By Cameron Lucadou-Wells, Ethan Benedicto
LaTrobe and Liberal MP, Jason Wood, has spoken out following a Guardian article citing that Bruce candidate Zahid Safi co-authored a 2021 Senate submission that suggested Hazaras were not persecuted in Afghanistan.
The Guardian broke that Safi was a co-author of a parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s involvement in the Afghanistan war that incorrectly cited a Human Rights Watch report to allge that Hazara ‘warlords’ had ‘cut the breasts of women’ and watched ‘live delivery oif pregnant women’ during the early 1990s.
However, the 2005 HRW report does not mention these acts.
Wood said that he has spoken to Safi, and said that “his input into the report was on the health aspect”.
“There’s no way that he or anyone at the Liberal party has the same view (as the report on downplaying Hazara genocide).
“The bigger picture is that the Liberal Party has been very supportive of all Afghans regardless of backgrounds,” he said.
In turn, these allegations have led members of the Hazara community in Bruce to lodge their own submissions to the inquiry, and that the claims relied on ‘racist tropes’ and a move that looked to remove evidence of ‘well-documented persecution of an entire ethnic group’.
“I have always found the Hazara people to be very welcoming and friendly,” Wood said.
“The Liberal party, and especially myself, have worked hard to give all Afghans, especially those who escaped the Taliban, the best chance of a new life in Australia.
“Zahid is the nicest guy, he’s put his hand up for the entire community, he is supportive of all Afghans as well as members of all community groups.”
Wood further added that the Liberals have supported “hundreds with letters of support” during the evacuation phase in Afghanistan.
He also cited that Peter Dutton, as defence minister, “evacuated 4700 in a week” and that the former Liberal government secured $27 million in resettlement programs in Australia.
