This evening Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Giulia Jones MLA will be convening a meeting of leaders in the multicultural community to discuss the rise in verbal racial abuse that has emerged in Canberra over the past few weeks.

The meeting with community leaders will include representatives of the Indian, Chinese, African, European and Indigenous communities.

Mrs Jones said this issue came up strongly over the past two days when a local man shared his experiences of racial abuse around his home in Weston creek.

“Those who have courageously stood up and have started a conversation with me, with the community and with police about how damaging racist abuse is deserve our attention and our support,” Mrs Jones said

“We will make sure we do everything in our power to end racial abuse in the Nation’s Capital.

“Racist abuse is damaging, it strips people of their dignity and their hope in living a good life here in Canberra and our multicultural communities deserve our support to end this racial abuse and to strengthen our multicultural community.

“No matter anyone’s ethnicity, their colour, their language or religion, they are people first and that is why I am seeking the community’s advice on what to do next to make this current fear to end.

“We will have a discussion tonight, I will listen to the leaders and we will go forward from there until we have made a difference in our city,” Mrs Jones concluded.