Could Be A Good Opportunity For A Western Australian MP Who Wants To Show He's Leadership Material To Say Something About What Happened In Perth On Monday?

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

An explosive device full of ball bearings and nails was thrown at a crowd of Indigenous people on January 26th, and the story still remains buried at the bottom of Australian news homepages.

A 31-year-old Perth man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in court yesterday accused of constructing an IED and hurling it into a rally that was protesting the treatment and inqualities faced by Indigenous people on Australia Day.

The paralysis of condemnation from political figures and Australian media commentators has left a vacuum to be filled by conspiracies and culture wars, as Australia begins to emulate the civil unrest seen in America.

This incident, and the lack of attention it has received from the political and media class, has left the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community once again feeling fearful and expendable. Especially given the fact that it took place January 26th - a date that commemorates the British arrival in Australia.

It is not known why the media has not come down harder on both the perpetrator and the ideology that radicalised him to the point of attempting to orchestrate a mass casualty event in the middle of Perth's CBD on January 26th.

It may be because Australia's media commentators might feel slightly responsible for the normalisation of extreme bigotry and dangerous rhetoric, after spending the last week legitimising the far-right minor party One Nation's chance of becoming the next Federal Opposition.

As Sussan Ley's leadership of the Liberal Party hurtles towards a leadership spill, the Australian media has been unable to resist the clickbait headlines that comes with legitimising Pauline Hanson and her white supremacist base as the new normal;.

The Liberal Party, having been battered and bruised by in-fighting that was caused by the government's decision to pass divisive laws that they themselves demanded, are just as silent as the Albanese government was in the weeks following the Bondi Attacks.

From the white power marches through Australia's capital cities, to the literal terrorism event that has been dismissed as 'intent to cause harm' by Western Australian police - the targeted attacks on the Indigenous community are not being seriously by any leaders.

Let alone leaders who are actually from Western Australia, and claim to hate the lack of social cohesion that has been generated by bad faith actors on social media who's inflammatory rhetoric is being rewarded by algorithms.

As the Liberals begin weighing up which leader would be best to stabilise the right-wing and put Pauline Hanson and Barnaby's Joyce's media blitz to bed, it could be a good opportunity for a Western Australian MP who uses words like 'unity' and 'common sense' to come forward and condemn the white supremacist terrorism that the nation witnessed on Monday?

Or would it perhaps upset 'the base' if they condemned violent attacks on Aboriginal people?