‘What we’re doing is pretty Australian

Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has labelled Australia as a country founded by invasion, theft of land and genocide in a rant in support of the Manus Island asylum seekers.  

The 26-year-old former ABC presenter, launched the tirade on Twitter against those in power, saying that the treatment of the people on Manus Island was deeply ‘un-Australian.’   

Her response comes just days after news broke that 600 detainees had locked themselves inside the ‘regional processing centre’ without food or water as the government decided to ‘discontinue critical services’ on October 31, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.Pictures show men digging a makeshift well in the dirt in hopes of finding water have been shared alongside the news, with Abdel-Magied saying the government was ‘acting cruelly, unfairly, uncourageously and without integrity.’  

‘Lest we forget Manus, I suggested, over six months ago. The backlash was said to be because I was unAustralian, disrespecting our history, & sullying the memory of the diggers and the ANZACS,’ she wrote online.  

‘This isn’t what they fought for, I was told. How dare you disrespect the Aussie spirit.’  
Abdel-Magied was making reference to her Anzac Day tweet earlier this year which read: ‘Lest we forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine).’  

She copped considerable public backlash for the comment, which was later deleted, and was criticised by Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott.’Tell me. How is what we are doing on Manus Island to other human beings respecting the Australian Spirit? How is what we are doing to people,’ she continued.  

She continued by calling out the Australian government for ‘standing behind a policy that is implemented in the most inhumane way.’   

‘We CANNOT in good conscious say that we are living up to these ‘Australian values.  
‘Whatever it takes to help avoid the fact that today, right now, we are acting cruelly, unfairly, uncourageously, without integrity.  

‘Right now, you folks in power? You’re being pretty damn unAustralian,’ she said.  

At this point in the rant Abdel-Magied said that because Australia was ‘founded after invasion, theft of a land and the genocide of its First Nations people,’ perhaps this was truly acting in an ‘Australian’ way.  

The controversial advocate pointed to the way a 23-year-old Iranian refugee named Omid set himself alight last year while being processed on Nauru.   

‘Imagine choosing to burn alive to make a point,’ she said.  

On Saturday Opposition Leader Bill Shorten urged the Prime Minister to allow 150 detainees on Manus Island to be resettled in New Zealand,Sky News reports.