Senator Lidia Thorpe will introduce a motion in Parliament on Tuesday condemning an attack on First Peoples at a January 26 rally in Boorloo/Perth.
A 31-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remains in police custody after allegedly throwing an explosive device containing nails and ball bearings into a crowd of about 2,500 people during last week's Invasion Day rally before attempting to flee. The device did not detonate.
The motion will express solidarity with those affected, recognise the serious harm and trauma caused, and affirm that racism and hate directed at First Peoples are real, increasing, and unacceptable.
Senator Thorpe said the motion makes clear "racism and hate directed at First Peoples are real, rising, and must be taken seriously by this Parliament".
"January 26 is already a Day of Mourning for many First Peoples. An attack on that day, at an Invasion Day rally, represents a serious escalation of racial violence and warrants a clear, united response from the Parliament," she said.
Her motion comes after she last week called for the federal government to implement the recommendations of the National Anti-Racism Framework and expand the Bondi Royal Commission to examine all forms of racism and hate.
The government is understood to support the motion in the Senate. Senator Thorpe has urged the House of Representatives to also back it so the entire Parliament can condemn the attack.
"This was a significant event. The whole Parliament should have the opportunity to reflect on it and condemn it together, as we have done in other instances of violence," she said.
Police initially charged the man with one count of "Unlawful act or omission with intent to harm" and one count of "Making or possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances". WA Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) later confirmed the incident is being investigated as a potential terrorist act.
Security experts have said the device could have caused a mass casualty event.
Senator Thorpe told ABC RN there had been "double standards" in the response, saying her motion aimed to "achieve some solidarity". The silence after the bombing, she said, was "disrespectful to all of those families that are still traumatised and reeling in the hurt".
"It also highlights racism and hate directed at First Peoples in this country, that it's real and that it's rising," she said. "I've never seen it so bad in my 52 years. So we're under attack all the time. It seems to be normalised."
Speaking on ABC News last week, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy defended the government's response. Asked whether not immediately declaring the incident a terrorist act amounted to ignoring the fears of the Indigenous community and allies, she said the event was "really serious" and that the government was treating it accordingly.
"There is a legal process underway, and it is important that that legal process takes place," Senator McCarthy said.
"The prime minister's first words, when he heard on Tuesday that charges had been laid, were that the charges were serious and that the book should be thrown at this."
Senator Thorpe said the Prime Minister only addressed the incident after being asked about it at a press conference the following day in Darwin, arguing he did not "come out on his own to condemn the violence".
"It's all been watered down compared to other acts of violence," she added.
The opposition response has also been limited compared with the near-universal condemnation seen after attacks targeting other marginalised groups.
While Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Senator Kerrynne Liddle last week told National Indigenous Times the alleged attack was "completely unacceptable" and should be "condemned unequivocally", other Coalition figures have not commented publicly.
"It's really telling, isn't it," Senator McCarthy said, "that we certainly don't even hear from people like the potential aspirant for leadership in Andrew Hastie — someone who speaks, supposedly, about wanting to see a safe Australia — make no comment."
