Jasvinder Sidhu recorded attacking Muslims at a meeting of Indian-Australians
A Labor staffer claims he was discussing visa inconsistencies when he was recorded attacking Muslims during a meeting aimed at getting Indian-Australians to join the party.
VIC News
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A Labor staffer who was secretly recorded attacking Muslims at a meeting of Indian-Australians should be suspended from the party, multicultural groups say.
Jasvinder Sidhu told a meeting of Punjabi-speaking Indians he was trying to recruit to the party that Turkish and Lebanese Muslims were sponging off taxpayers.
“They have all arrived by boats and as soon as they arrive they are given pension, Centrelink, and also rewarded with houses and medical services immediately,” he said.
Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance executive secretary Huseyin Atayman has written to ALP state secretary Clare Burns demanding a public apology, and said a petition had been launched on change.org.
Mr Atayman said every effort must be made to prove that “the ALP is not a party of race politics” and that those who tried to get ahead by “stoking ethnic tensions” were penalised.
A group of Turkish Islamic cultural centres in Melbourne has also reacted angrily and called for his dismissal from the party, while another group of Islamic leaders says the rant is like One Nation fearmongering.
The gathering at which the recording of Mr Sidhu was taken was held on the day a violent altercation erupted at Mr Sidhu’s house in Hoppers Crossing last month, amid an argument over party rules and claims that rival factional players were trying to intimidate him. A man threw a punch at Mr Sidhu, which led to a complaint to police.
Mr Sidhu, who claims to have a direct line to Daniel Andrews, told potential recruits at the recorded meeting that he had sent a video of the uproar directly to the Premier.
“The Premier knows what happened today,” he said.
Mr Sidhu also argued that in contrast to the Sikh community, Muslims had done little to help people in bushfire-affected areas this summer.
An active operator in the party’s Socialist Left faction, he has recruited many Indian-Australians to the party.
The recording, which will stoke fears that ethnic tensions are being weaponised by Labor recruiters to gain an advantage over their factional rivals, was made at a meeting at Mr Sidhu’s house in late January.
Earlier that day scuffles had broken out when a group of political rivals of the Socialist Left recruiter were barred from entering the meeting.
On the recording, which has been translated for the Herald Sun from Punjabi into English, Mr Sidhu repeatedly disparages Turkish and Lebanese Australians.
“During bushfires, we do a lot of work; have you seen any Turkish or Lebanese taking food vans to the affected areas? We are doing everything, the only thing we are missing is the political power, on which we are working now,” he says in one attack.
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He boasted that he could communicate directly with Mr Andrews, also a member of the Socialist Left faction. He said the government was favouring Muslims with millions of dollars in funding, compared with just $100,000 for the Sikh and Hindu communities.
“Twenty million for them, and our Sikh Temple has been getting $100,000 for 10 years!”
He then added: “But who pays the taxes? Our people.”
A spokesman for Mr Andrews said: “These comments are wrong and don’t reflect the views of the Premier or the government he leads.”
Mr Sidhu is employed by Labor Senator Jess Walsh and has previously worked for Mr Andrews.
He told the Herald Sun he had been discussing “serious inconsistencies in visa policy”.
“It’s unfortunate that after I was attacked in my home, someone made a secret recording of a private discussion, a part of which has been passed to the media for political reasons,” he said.
“I will keep advocating to ensure a fair outcome regarding parental visas within the party, an issue which I’ve been working on for many years.”
Senator Walsh backed the premier’s stance that “these comments are wrong” but refused to say if Mr Sidhu remained her staff member.
“I’ve always stood for diversity and inclusion. These are the values I fight for and the values I expect from my team,” she said.