Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has clashed with a former CEO during a federal parliamentary inquiry into racism, challenging him on whether he accepted he was living on 'stolen land' or if he 'paid the rent'.
Peter Balan, who this year received an Order of Australia for 'service to tertiary education and to the community of South Australia', fronted the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in Brisbane on July 28.
The former University of South Australia academic and CEO of manufacturing company Tyronsea Plastics, made a submission to the parliamentary inquiry, which is examining racism, hate and violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia.
Balan wrote to the committee that he hoped to see 'Aboriginal people would enjoy life as other Australian citizens' and argued for scrapping race-based programs, including ending Welcome to Country ceremonies.
The tense exchange began when Thorpe pressed Balan to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of Australia.
'I've asked you a question. Do you acknowledge that we are the First Peoples of this land in this country? Yes or no? I don't need a history lesson,' Thorpe said.
Balan declined to answer directly.
'I think it doesn't matter,' he replied.
'Okay. It doesn't matter. All right. That's your answer,' Thorpe responded.
Senator Lidia Thorpe (pictured) clashed with former plastics company chief executive Peter Balan during a public inquiry into racism. Above, during a hearing during the inquiry
The hearing grew more heated as Thorpe shifted to the issue of land ownership.
'Do you acknowledge that you're on stolen land?' she asked.
'No,' Balan replied.
Thorpe then demanded to know whether he paid 'the rent' for living on land belonging to traditional owners.
'I pay taxes,' Balan said.
Thorpe pressed further.
'As somebody who's not from this land, who lives here and benefits from the stolen wealth and oppression of Aboriginal people, do you pay the rent for being on stolen land to the people whose land it is?' she asked.
'All I do is pay my taxes, or have paid taxes, as an Australian citizen. I don't understand your term "paying rent",' he said.
Peter Balan (pictured) worked as an academic and lecturer at the University of South Australia
Balan opposes Welcome to Country ceremonies and the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. The Albanese government has made it commonplace to do so
Asked directly whether he paid rent 'for the privilege of being on their land', Balan replied: 'I'll answer the question first. No.'
'Well, okay. Maybe that's something you should consider,' Thorpe said.
The exchange escalated when Thorpe accused Balan of supporting 'cultural genocide' because he opposes Welcome to Country ceremonies and the official display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
'Can I just confirm that you are in fact calling for cultural genocide?' she asked.
'Senator, you're exaggerating. All I'm asking for is changes that will bring fairness and dignity to our society,' Balan replied.
'I find that this witness is totally inappropriate and is causing harm and will cause further harm,' Thrope said.
'And the racism that this person represents is the very racism that we're trying to eradicate.'
Lidia Thorpe (pictured) slammed the ongoing racism inquiry, saying it did not go far enough
In a video posted to social media from what she described as 'so-called Cairns', Thorpe also said witnesses at the inquiry had presented extensive evidence of racism across Queensland institutions.
'I've heard a lot of witnesses talking about how racist Queensland actually is,' she said.
'The cops are racist, the hospitals are racist, the education system's racist. We have mountains and mountains of evidence.'
On Monday, she renewed calls for a royal commission into racism, arguing that this parliamentary inquiry did not go far enough and warning governments rarely act on recommendations.
In a social media post, Thorpe said Australia was becoming more divided and criticised what she called a failure to seriously tackle racism.
'We didn't need the Racism Inquiry - we need to not be ignored any longer,' she wrote.
'We don't just want another Royal Commission - we've seen the total lack of action on the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. We want recommendations to be actioned. We want equality for our people, which cannot be realised while we're living in this haze of discrimination and oppression.'
'Racism doesn't just harm First Nations Peoples, it hurts everyone.'
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