Luke Foley’s ‘disgusting racist dog whistling’

A senior Victorian Labor MP launches a scathing attack on the NSW Opposition Leader over his ‘white flight’ remark.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley. Picture: AAP

NSW Labor leader Luke Foley has been accused of “disgusting racist dog whistling” by a senior Victorian Labor colleague.

Mr Foley was forced to apologise over comments he made about “white flight” occurring in Sydney’s western suburbs on Thursday, which prompted widespread condemnation from both sides of politics.

Victorian Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said Labor deserved far better.

“I never thought I’d see the day that the leader of the NSW Labor Party would resort to disgusting racist dog whistling,” Ms D’Ambrosio posted to Facebook. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Foley used the term “white flight” to describe the many “Anglo families” forced to leave suburbs in western Sydney struggling with the “huge burden” of migration.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian criticised Mr Foley in Thursday’s question time, describing his words as “divisive, offensive, dangerous and nasty”. Within an hour, Mr Foley issued an apology for his comments, citing “feedback”. However, Fairfield Mayor Mark Carbone defended Mr Foley’s comments on Friday, saying he had raised valid issues surrounding the strain immigration was putting on western Sydney, including his council.

“I don’t think Luke meant to offend; I think the good thing of what has come out of it is that there is an issue in Fairfield,” Mr Carbone told ABC Radio. “I think he meant to highlight the challenges that do occur in places like Fairfield.” Mr Carbone said more than 7000 migrants had been placed in Fairfield over a short period of time, which had caused “issues”.

However, federal MP Christopher Pyne said Mr Foley had made a “significant error of judgement”.

“They’re not acceptable terms to use, they don’t bring people together, they drive them apart. That’s where I think Luke Foley has made a significant error of judgment,” Mr Pyne told the Nine Network on Friday.

AAP