Labor Senator Sam Dastyari calmly handled racist pub attack
LABOR Senator Sam Dastyari calmly handled anti-Islamic taunts in an attack posted on Facebook, but he’s warned certain politicians are enabling racism.
LABOR Senator Sam Dastyari has warned racism in Australia is getting worse after he was ambushed by a group of racist thugs at a Melbourne pub.
The Iranian-born Senator was accosted by a group of men calling themselves working class patriots, and called a “terrorist” and “monkey”.
The men from right-wing group Patriot Blue filmed the confrontation and posted it on the group’s Facebook page.
In the confronting video, the men are seen to approach Senator Dastyari saying: “You terrorist. You little monkey.”
The men then demanded to know if he was Muslim and insisted he “go back to Iran”, and continued to taunt the Senator for several minutes.
When Senator Dastyari called the men racists, they replied with: “What race is Islam?”
Sticking up for his colleague, fellow Labor MP Tim Watts, who was also at the pub for a Q & A session, said to them: “What race is dickhead?”
Calmly handling the situation, the Senator said the men were “racist red necks”.
“You follow me everywhere I go,” he said.
“I think you guys are a bunch of racists, I don’t have time for you. I’m not going to bother with you guys, you’re embarrassing yourselves.”
Addressing the event on Channel 9 this morning, Senator Dastyari said he regularly copped racist attacks and said it was getting worse.
“There is a lot of Islamophobia and racism and it’s getting worse, not just on the right of politics but on the left as well,” he said.
The Senator admitted that while he was used to the comments, they still hurt.
“When you start being questioned about being an Australian, of course it hurts,” he said. “When someone like me has spent their life, so proud of being able to come here, so proud of the opportunity that country has been able to give me, to then have to cop a bunch of losers attack you in a bar.
“I mean, they call themselves Australian patriots. They went to a bar and didn’t even stay for a drink. What kind of patriots are they?”
Senator Dastyari repeated that the men were racist.
“Look, they are racist, they are Islamophobes. They are the sickening face of white nationalists in this country. What’s happening is our politics is heading into a very, very ugly place,” he said.
"They call themselves Australian patriots, @KarlStefanovic they went to a bar and didn't even stay for a drink..."-@SamDastyari #9Today pic.twitter.com/WVtenisHcH
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) November 8, 2017
The Senator compared the incident to last month’s attack on Tony Abbott where the former prime minister was headbutted in a Hobart street.
“We are heading into a space where you are going to start finding politicians are not able to just go to the pub and meet with people or to the pub, like Tony Abbott wasn’t able to,” he said.
Acknowledging the men may have been in violation of the Racial Vilification Act, Senator Dastyari said he was “keeping his options open” when it came to taking action against the group.
Earlier, he blamed the rise of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation for empowering racists.
“All of this is the rise of the radical right in this country, it is the rise of One Nation right,” he said. “These are people who feel incredibly empowered because of what Pauline Hanson has done for them.
“You dance so far to the right that it gives those a little bit further out a sense of entitlement.”
Following the incident, Senator Dastyari has attracted support from several politicians including Labor leader Bill Shorten, and controversial former leader Mark Latham.
Good on Sam Dastyari for standing up and calling these idiots out for what they are. There's no place for this sort of stuff in Australia.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) November 8, 2017
There's no place for attacking people on the basis of skin colour in Australia, whether it's anti-white racists like @samdastyari and today's Lefties, obsessed with denigrating white-skinned people, or anyone attacking Dastyari because he's an Iranian citizen.
— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) November 8, 2017
The outspoken Senator also called out one of the men’s apparent employer, logistics giant Toll Group. In the video, at least one men can be seen wearing the company’s uniform.
Speaking on Channel 7, Senator Dastyari said he was waiting for Toll’s call.
“I am amazed that Toll Holdings, a major Australian company, have these people who are proudly wearing their colours, proudly making their own videos of racist and Islamophobic taunts, and the company still hasn’t called,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Toll told news.com.au the company was investigating the incident, but has since denied the man in the video is a Toll employee.
“Toll can confirm that the individual wearing the Toll polo shirt is not employed by Toll, and has not worked for us for several months,” the statement said.
“The actions of these individuals in no way reflect the beliefs and values of Toll. No member of the community should have to endure the behaviour displayed overnight and we do not tolerate such behaviour at our company.”
Labor Senator @samdastyari says Toll has not contacted him after he was harassed by far-right extremists who work for them. #sun7 pic.twitter.com/38dwjCHo8D
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 8, 2017
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