Image of Labor’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus that has sparked outrage

A photo of Labor’s Mark Dreyfus has emerged which has offended many people. See what happened and why he left the venue.

Exclusive: The man who would likely be Attorney-General under a Labor Government attended an event marking the end of Ramadan where some apparently ethnic Han Chinese people dressed as members of the oppressed Uyghur Muslim community.

A picture of Mark Dreyfus at the event was posted last week on the Facebook page of the Labor-aligned Mayor of Greater Dandenong, Jim Memeti, who wrote “Eid celebrations with the Australian Xinjiang Seniors Citizen Club. Mark Dreyfus QC MP was in attendance with us this morning who gave a wonderful speech in regards to Multicultural communities in Australia.’’

Banners on the wall behind the two men referenced both the senior citizens club, and the Xin Jiang Chinese Association of Australia, an organisation which has been praised by other organisations linked to the Chinese Government’s infamous overseas propaganda arm United Front.

The picture from the Facebook page of City of Greater Dandenong Mayor Cr Jim Memeti, which shows Shadow Attorney-General, Cr Memeti, and Chinese community members celebrating Eid.

The photo has since been removed from Facebook after complaints from the Uyghur community – an oppressed Muslim minority from the Xinjiang region of China, who are subject to incarceration, re-education and forced sterilisation by the Chinese Government in their homeland.

Mr Dreyfus said he left the function “once it became clear what the event was actually about.’’

In a statement posted online, the Uyghur Association of Victoria said it was “shocked and dismayed last week to see a post on social media lauding the appearance of Mark Dreyfus QC MP at an event called “Celebrate Muslim Ramadan’.’’

“It is one thing for people of Han or other ethnic background who come from so-called ‘Xinjiang’ to present themselves as Xinjiang People, quite another for such persons to take the further step of casting themselves as somehow representative of the Uyghur people or Kazakh peoples of so-called ‘Xinjiang’,’’ it said.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Picture: AAP

“Worse still, what these associations and this event in fact represent is Chinese Government propaganda including the obfuscation and denial of the horrors being perpetrated on Uyghur, Kazakh and other Turkic and Muslim peoples in their own traditional lands.’’

Mr Dreyfus, the member for Isaacs in suburban Melbourne, said he had been invited to attend by the senior citizens association, a long-established local group of senior citizens, many of whom lived in his electorate.

“Once it became clear what the event was actually about, I left,’’ he told News Corp.

“I support the Uyghur people and have no hesitation in condemning their treatment by China.’’

Jim Memeti is the mayor of Greater Dandenong.

Cr Memeti confirmed he had posted, then removed, the photograph “while I get some clarity.’’

“I was told they were not all Uyghur people dressed in Uyghur costumes,’’ he said.

“That’s what they (the Uyghur Association) told me.’’

Cr Memeti said he “did not know’’ if there were links between some of the members of the Xinjiang Chinese Association of Australia and United Front.

The peak United Front group the Gansu Returned Overseas Chinese Federation has previously said that “Xinjiang is a big, multiethnic harmonious family and the Xinjiang Chinese Association is the epitome of this big family overseas.’’

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Originally published as Image of Labor’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus that has sparked outrage