Premier’s ‘sarcastic’ comments hurt Indian Australians aching to see family

Australians aching to see family and visit graves in India say they’ve been hurt by comments from the Queensland Premier.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at COVID press conference on Thursday. Picture: Richard Walker

Australians aching to see family and visit graves in India say they’ve been hurt by comments from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk which were received as “sarcastic” and “condescending”.

Asked whether she supported Federal Government assurances that Australians should be able to travel overseas by Christmas, the Premier on Thursday questioned why anyone would want to.

“Where are you going to go?” she asked.

“Are you gonna go to India?”

Ms Palaszczuk followed by saying people had to wear perspex screens in Tokyo, where she sealed the deal for the 2032 Olympic Games, but Australian-Indians have questioned why she singled out their motherland.

Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland president Shyam Das said he spent yesterday fielding calls from a network of people who were “hurt” and trying to clarify what the Premier meant.

“They’re saying it was a bit sarcastic,” Mr Shyam.

“Why look down on India like that when Indian-Australians are so peace-loving?

“Why has India been singled out and not other countries like the UK, United States and Europe- why was it India?”

Shyam Das previously speaking at Parliament House.

Mr Das said it should be obvious why more than 600,000 Indian-born Australian residents might want to return to the country after years away from family.

He believed the Covid-19 pandemic had played into some recent suicides of Indians in Queensland and he had been reached by people struggling to get overseas for funerals and to support sick relatives.

In the past month India has experienced more than one million cases and nearly ten thousand deaths.

A spokeswoman for the Premier said when was asked about the possibility of international borders opening, she was trying to highlight the problem of approving international travel anywhere if the federal government did not identify which countries Australians could travel to.

“As general examples of countries which unfortunately have had high levels of COVID cases, she mentioned India and Japan, but there are many countries with COVID outbreaks which would similarly make travel problematic,” she said.

“The Premier has clearly conveyed Queensland’s sincere best wishes for India, including a two-million-dollar donation to the Red Cross in May this year following a meeting with leaders of the Indian community.”

Another member of the Indian community in Brisbane said he was disappointed to hear the comments during the press conference and was reaching out to officials.

Ravi Simons, from Melbourne, said the “condescending” comments had far-reaching impacts for Indians living in Australia.

He felt like India was being mocked when it had more roadblocks in reaching vaccination targets.

“India is a big country with different languages and different people and it’s a big feat to vaccinate on that scale,” he said.

“We’re suffering through this all over and then for the Premier of Queensland to say what she said is very disrespectful, and then it could be Dan Andrews who says something similar and then other people follow.

“It’s irresponsible and it marginalises the Indian community.”

Ravi Simons' mother Joyce Simons and late father Alexander Simons pictured with their grandson before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Simons, who said he felt like a second-class citizen, has been desperate to return to India after his father died in October 2020 and his mother became sick.

“I haven’t been able to get any closure,” he said.

Mr Das said he had reached out to the Premier’s office to ask for more context around her comments.

He said he was anticipating an explanation or an apology.