Coronavirus: Scott Morrison addresses spate of racially motivated attacks

Scott Morrison has lashed out at people perpetrating racist attacks against Chinese Australians amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scott Morrison has taken aim at the perpetrators of racist attacks against Australia’s Asian community, saying that kind of behaviour is “not on”.

During a press conference this afternoon, the PM was asked about the recent cases of Chinese Australians being assaulted and verbally abused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Morrison had a simple message for these attackers: “Stop it”.

“That’s my message. And I think that is the message of every Australian. Now is a time to support each other,” he said.

Mr Morrison pointed out that it was Chinese Australians “in particular that provided one of the greatest defences we had in those early weeks” of the outbreak.

“They were the ones who first went into self-isolation, they were the ones who were returning from family visits up into China and they were returning home,” he said.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media at a press conference in Canberra. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

“It was through their care, it was through their commitment, their patience that actually Australia was protected in their first wave.

“Within a week of our first case we shut off those from China except for Australians returning home.”

The PM said he “deplores” that sort of behaviour against any Australian regardless of their ethnicity.

“I think that is the view of all Australians. So we have to call that sort of thing up. It’s not on,” he said.

Mr Morrison’s comments follow reports that Chinese Australians are being assaulted, robbed, spat on, refused service and verbally abused by some people amid the pandemic.

Last week it was revealed that Queensland Police has laid 22 charges for racially-motivated offences following 16 complaints to police.

Wilful damage, public nuisance, robberies, assaults, verbal abuse and graffiti with abusive language are among the offences that have been committed.

“These are racially motivated offences,” Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said.

Victims of racist attacks are not always coming forward to report what has happened to them, she said, adding they should do so.

Commissioner Carroll and Police Minister Mark Ryan have demanded an end to the offensive behaviour.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said there had been a number of racially motivated attacks in the state. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP

Some of those attacks have come from far-right political extremists, Multicultural Affairs Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.

“There are some very extreme, extreme right-wing activists who are using this current situation to attack members of our community,” he said.

“It is completely unacceptable.”

Incidents of racism against Chinese Australians had worsened, Michael Ma, secretary-general of Queensland Chinese United Council said.

Mr Ma attributed some of that behaviour to the way COVID-19 has been presented by officials around the world.

“Naming a virus after a race or a nation is unhelpful and unwise because it gives rise to stigmatisation and also encourages people who have biases to exercise their prejudice,” he said.

“Perhaps some of the comments made by some of our public personnel has not helped, not necessarily from this country, but from other countries.”

He said the broader community was suffering because of the virus, but only a united approach would get people through it.

– With AAP