Thread by @antoinette_news

Michael Towke 🧵(and things he said that made my heart 💔)
“I would have been the first Australian of Lebanese heritage to be a federal member of Parliament on the Liberal party side that’s a bit of history there that they stole from me”

#TheProjectTV #auspol

“Privately the Liberal party was accusing me of owning and operating a number of brothels, being involved in a criminal syndicate, being involved in the Cronulla riots ... The 'dodgy Leb angle' and they ran with it”

"They put a political gun to my head and basically told me they would ruin me, I would never be employable again if I didn't withdraw from the preselection and throw my votes in behind Morrison ... that's what I did, I I was coerced"

"The hardest pill to swallow was then throw my weight behind the most meritless candidate. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I wiped the floor with him, how does he land this political class jobs for the boys? That's the thing here, I'm just not one of them".

"I have no interest in ever going to that sausage factory [politics], or cesspool -- it's getting worse by the day-- ever again... I wouldn't even say thanks. I'd just say No. Not interested."

It hasn't been easy being Lebanese from western Sydney - especially since the Cronulla riots (which morphed into generalised anti-Arab, anti-Muslim hate in the 'war on terror' era) At that time, like Towke, my career (in media) was in its infancy & I wanted to have a voice

I was badly bullied in my first media job & considered quitting the industry because I was ‘not one of them’. Unlike Towke, I wasn’t threatened& coerced. But I have seen many other people leave the industry -- harassed, bullied, or their ethnicity was weaponised against them.

So then when political parities and media organisations get defensive about the lack of diversity in their ranks – and pull out the tired cliches of ‘best person for the job’ or ‘we want more diverse people to come forward’ I want to both laugh and scream.

Australia likes to celebrate ethnic minorities – by eating our food, listening to our music, maybe even visiting our homelands. It makes for nice photo opps. But when it comes to sharing power, and allowing us to be represented in our democracy – then the rules are different.

I also know this happens on both sides of politics. Despite Labor positioning itself as progressive\inclusive - its got terrible form. We've seen parachuting of white candidates & elbowing diverse candidates out of the way (I'm waiting for some more of these stories to surface)