Call for Invasion Day rally organiser Tarneen Onus-Williams to be sacked from government body
THE group behind the Invasion Day march has called for Australia “to be abolished” in an expletive-laden statement backing Tarneen Onus-Williams, amid calls for the Aboriginal activist to be axed from a government-funded body.
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THERE are calls for an Aboriginal activist to be axed from a government-funded body after she said Australia should be burnt to the ground.
Meanwhile, the group behind the Invasion Day march has called for “Australia to be abolished”.
In a vile social media post, the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance group has backed the comments of its member Tarneen Onus-Williams and released its own expletive-laden statement, saying “f--- your flag, your anthem and precious national day”.
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It added, “Abolish Australia, not just Australia Day”.
Ms Onus-Williams is not just associated with the provocative WAR protest group, but also the state government-funded Koorie Youth Council.
Ms Onus-Williams, 24, made no apologies for screaming “f--- Australia, I hope it burns to the ground” during the march on Australia Day.
“Yes, some people use that language but it’s nothing compared to the way Aboriginal people have been treated,” she told the Herald Sun.
“People who celebrate Australia Day are celebrating the genocide of aboriginal people, waving Australian flags in our faces. It’s disgusting.’’
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The WAR group today backed her comments, saying it would not rest until “we burn this entire rotten settler colony called Australia ... to the f------ ground”.
“Until every corrupt and illegal institution of white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist settler colonial power forced upon us is no more,” it read.
Opposition MP Tim Smith said Ms Onus-Williams’ comments should disqualify her from further representing the Koorie Youth Council.
“Denigrating Australia is no way to improve Aboriginal disadvantage and further the cause of reconciliation and Daniel Andrews should show some backbone and sack her,” he said.
The Koorie Youth Council has received $1.7 million in government funding since 2012 from both Liberal and Labor governments.
On Sunday, it stressed Ms Onus-Williams had a volunteer role for the council and she was not representing it at the Invasion Day rally.
It added that they do not share her views. The Koorie Youth Council statement said it did not organise the rally but it did make a number of social media posts promoting it.
Premier Daniel Andrews said Ms Onus-Williams’ comments were “wrong and shameful”, but membership was a matter for the youth council.
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine who at first said the Koorie Youth Council should be defended for Ms Onus-Williams’ comment, applauded its decision to back away from her stance. But he said WAR was an extremist “hate group” of oxygen thieves.
“Shows the true motive of extremist left: hatred of Australia,” he said.
Originally published as Call for Invasion Day rally organiser Tarneen Onus-Williams to be sacked from government body