We join with others to show our solidarity with the people of New Zealand

Message from Alton Budd, Chairperson (16 March 2019): The Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland is the peak body in advocacy for the CALD  communities of Queensland.   We join with others to show our solidarity with the people of New Zealand and others who are experiencing trauma following the tragic events in New Zealand yesterday.  The Ethnic Communities Council advocates for a cohesive but diverse community in which we all live in a multicultural Queensland, Australia and New Zealand.

The Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland advocates for the safety and wellbeing of all communities across Queensland and each member of our community to have the opportunity to live a free life, to be able to go about their life in safety and to be able to practice their respective faith in a safe environment.  We join with our Muslim communities, all faith communities and other fair minded Australians to mourn their respective loss of family and loved ones and to condemn the right wing extremist terrorist attack on free living people in Christchurch, New Zealand.  There is no place in our society for this or any type of terrorism in our multicultural society.

Alton Budd, the Chairperson of the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland states “that we find any notion or form of racism whether mild or extreme to be a vile exposure of race hatred and a blight on Australia and New Zealand’s diverse multicultural societies.  The condemnation for this evil attack in New Zealand  should be as extreme as the attack itself.  There needs to be a greater political will by our State and Commonwealth politicians to raise the level of objection to racism in this country.”

Our political leaders ought to willing to lift the levels of concern for right wing extremism and race hatred which has not only grown in our society but has been allowed to permeate our political institutions.  Right wing extremism antennas should be placed on the same level as it is applied to to other cohorts of extremism.  Plausible comments and affected outrage is not the answer. Deliberate public action where the leaders are not only active but seen to be active in the fight against racism and extremism on all levels of the spectrum.