Published 15 July 2018

The Victorian Liberal Party is distributing flyers drumming up fear of African-Australian kids – encouraging communities to see them as animals by referring to gangs who "hunt in packs".Instead of standing forVictorians, Matthew Guy's Liberal Party is trying on racism as an election strategy.For months, Victoria's migrant and multicultural communities have had to endure baseless public commentary on incidences of crime and its connection to race and ethnicity. Even Victoria's Chief Commissioner of Police has described the commentary as "complete and utter garbage".We need politicians to act with integrity and truth – not attempt to win elections using fear towards people depending on what they look like or where they come from.If we allow this kind of racism to become a feature of political debate, we divide neighbour against neighbour and threaten all of our safety. We cannot allow it -References:[1] 'New figures show 34% jump in race discrimination reports in Victoria',, 16 July 2018[2] 'Senior police officer says Victoria is one of the world's safest places as #Africangangs campaign begins',, 16 January 2018[3] '10 things you need to understand about crime reporting in 2018',