In August, a gang of neo-Nazis armed with poles stormed Camp Sovereignty, a sacred site of ceremony, resistance and healing for First Peoples. They punched and kicked community members, targeting women, and trampled the Aboriginal flag, desecrating a place where our Ancestors rest. They walked away without real consequence.

For First Peoples, this was a hate crime and act of terror; a deliberate attempt to intimidate and instil fear. It follows a long pattern: when racism festers, it becomes violence, and when violence is directed at us, the authorities look away.

Camp Sovereignty sits on what the coloniser calls Kings Domain. For thousands of years, this has been a gathering ground for our Nations, a place of ceremony and connection. Today it is the burial site for the remains of our people returned from overseas. It was set up in 2006 by my Uncle Robbie Thorpe and the Black GST, in response to the Stolenwealth Games, to highlight the plight of our people in this country on the international stage.

It is a peaceful camp, a place of healing and connection, where everyone is welcome to visit and hear the truth of this country.

But the August attack showed that hate is growing faster than healing. My community has told me that their kids were too scared to go to school after seeing the footage. Yet the institutions meant to protect us refuse to call this what it is: a racially motivated act of hate and terror.

Victoria Police failed to intervene as the Nazis marched to the camp, did not pursue them as they fled, and have refused to investigate this as the hate crime it clearly was.

Even the Prime Minister, when asked on national television, had little to say. He insisted there were "some good people" marching alongside neo-Nazis at racist anti-immigration rallies that same day.

The contrast with how this system treats our people is stark. First Peoples are jailed at higher rates than Black South Africans during apartheid. Our kids are taken, our families criminalised, and our communities are over-policed and under-protected. When a neo-Nazi leader like Thomas Sewell, a man with a long, documented history of violent extremism, is arrested and charged for leading an attack on Aboriginal people, he gets bail.

I will always defend the right to bail, as punitive bail laws are killing our people. But the double standard is impossible to ignore. Elders, mums fleeing violence, young people with no record are denied bail every day. A violent neo-Nazi walks free.

More than 400,000 people have signed a petition calling for this attack to be investigated as a hate crime. Twenty-one members of the federal crossbench have joined me in demanding action from the Albanese Government, Victoria Police, AFP, and public prosecutors. We are calling for hate crime and terrorism laws — designed to protect communities from acts exactly like this — to be applied when First Peoples are the victims.

If a church, synagogue or mosque had been attacked, there would have been no hesitation. The Prime Minister would have held a press conference within the hour. But when it is us — First Peoples, on our own Country, in our own place of worship — we are treated as lesser. That is the truth of this colony.

The fire at Camp Sovereignty will continue to burn. We will keep calling for Land Back; for this sacred place to be returned to Traditional Custodians as a centre for ceremony, truth-telling, education, and healing. The Melbourne City Council and State Government should work with Traditional Owners and Camp Sovereignty to create a permanent structure where community can come to heal, listen, and learn.

To everyone reading: don't look away. Stand with us. Demand accountability. Demand safety for our communities. Demand that hate crimes against First Peoples be treated as seriously as hate crimes against anyone else.

If this country is ever going to heal, the truth must be faced, and justice must finally be done.

Senator Lidia Thorpe is a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman and independent senator for Victoria.