Letter to the Editor - The Straits Times - 25 April 2020

As published in The Straits Times, 25 April 2020.

As an Australian who used to travel regularly to Singapore for work before my election to the Australian Parliament House last year, I was horrified to hear about the racist attack on a student from Singapore in my home city of Melbourne last week.

It is awful to hear of anyone being attacked by strangers on the street because of his race and ethnicity.

It is unacceptable that anyone should have to put up with such cowardly and reprehensible racist behaviour.

It is utterly unAustralian and is condemned by all Australians.

Every person in Australia - whether he arrived here recently, or his family has walked these lands since time immemorial - should never face aggressive acts based on his heritage.

I utterly condemn the actions of those who believe it is acceptable to be racist towards international students living in Australia.

As a member of the Australian Parliament, I will continue to call out this disgusting behaviour and work towards ensuring Australia continues to be the welcoming country that I know 99.9999 per cent of Australians agree it should be.

It is not okay, and it needs to stop.