It was Edmund Burke, the Irish Whig (liberal) politician from the 19th century, often called the father of conservatism, that coined the phrase:

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’.

Evil manifests itself through intolerance of people and through prejudice and bigotry against minorities.  It was silence that led to the rise of Nazism in the 1930s.  It was a collective turning of a blind eye in the Balkans in the 1990s that drove the genocide in Bosnia and it is silence from good people that will allow evil to again stride the world stage.

We must call out in a very loud voice what is happening in Australia today.  There are senior politicians that have made deliberate statements designed to create discord in our society.  To drive a wedge between communities. To incite hatred against new migrant arrivals in order to pander to a racist base.  It is the same nationalist playbook used by Trump in the US and can be found in populist movements around the world.  

And yet the political leadership in Canberra is silent.  What does that tell us?  That silence is again taking hold as extremism in its many forms starts to flourish.
Ironically, it is the conservative politicians in Australia leading the bigotry charge, ironic given the strong positions that Edmund Burke, as the founder of conservatism, took against all forms of bigotry during his life.

On the back of the powerful #metoo campaign to protect women, let us go forward with a strong social media voice #notsilent to ensure the voices in the world are very loud and clear.  We, as good people, cannot and will not accept what is happening.