Greens host embattled Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah for international women’s day

The Greens hosted Randa Abdel-Fattah as the keynote speaker at an international women’s day event, as the party’s deputy leader said the nation had to stop using words such as inclusivity and social cohesion.

Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, left, with Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, centre, and poet Jazz Money

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The Greens hosted embattled anti-Israel academic Randa Abdel-Fattah as the keynote speaker at an international women’s day event on Friday, as the left-wing party’s deputy leader said the nation had to stop using words such as inclusivity, harmony and social cohesion.

The Australian Research Council recently suspended Dr Abdel-Fattah’s four-year $870,269 Future Fellowship grant after she bragged about bending research rules.

The event, hosted by Senator Mehreen Faruqi, was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

Senator Faruqi has been a strong supporter of Dr Abdel Fattah, recently grilling officials in Senate estimates of having succumbed to “racist” pressure in deciding to suspend Dr Abdel-Fattah’s grant.

“As a brown, Muslim woman … I find it deeply, deeply disturbing for a white, male education minister to lead the charge against Dr Abdel-Fattah, an Arab woman,” Senator Faruqi said during hearings.

At the women’s day breakfast, Senator Faruqi said “misogyny is on the rise globally, threatening to undo decades of work”, according to a video she posted on social media.

“We need to be more clear and more resolute about what we are demanding,” she said.

“Nothing less than equality, nothing less, and we need to understand the close connections between all forms of ­oppression: racism, sexism, classism, and there are many others. And we must also stop using skin-deep, superficial words like inclusivity, harmony, and social cohesion, which our governments have been using over the past 18 months, without any ­restraint.

“Instead, our fight is for anti-racism, it is for equity, it is for justice, whether here or anywhere else in the world.

“Whitewashing, sexism, misogyny, racism, and bigotry is not going to move the dialogue. Telling the truth, unapologetically, and unabashedly, will. And that is what we need to do.”

The Australian has previously reported the Museum of Contemporary Art had tried to stop the event from proceeding.

The MCA told The Australian last month it had contacted ­Senator Faruqi’s office to ­“remind them that they and their speakers are required to adhere to all federal and state laws and regulations, including race and hate laws, at all times”.

Dr Abdel-Fattah now faces an investigation from Macquarie University for the $870,269 taxpayer-backed grant awarded in 2022 for Arab and Muslim Australian social movements since the 1970s.

She has been embroiled in multiple controversies since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel and the following war in the Gaza Strip.

This current suspension came after Education Minister Jason Clare ordered an investigation after The Australian revealed Dr Abdel-Fattah bragged about bending research rules during an appearance at a controversial anti-racism symposium at the Queensland University of Technology.

Dr Abdel-Fattah’s grant had come under previous scrutiny when she led a “kids excursion” to the University of Sydney’s pro-Palestine encampment protest in April 2024, where primary school-aged children led each other in chants of “intifada”.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson then demanded Mr Clare cut her funding.

“Australian taxpayers should not be providing $870,000 to an activist academic who has engaged in such appalling conduct,” Senator Henderson said.