A Labor Leader Is Very Worried That Immigrants Are Pushing White People Out Of The Suburbs
He literally used the phrase "white flight".
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley has defended his use of the term “white flight” to describe suburbs in western Sydney where “Anglo” families are supposedly fleeing as migrants move in.
Foley made the comments to The Daily Telegraph (who else?), claiming that successive governments had pushed huge migrant intakes into regions that don’t have the infrastructure required to service them.
The man who wants to be the next Premier of NSW said this meant areas such as Fairfield in Sydney’s southwest are experiencing a “slow decline”.
“I’m saying, what about that middle ring of suburbs that have experienced, if anything, just a slow decline. In terms of employment, in terms of white flight — where many Anglo families have moved out?,” he told the paper.
Just to be clear, this is a Labor leader explicitly linking the “slow decline” of some suburbs to an absence of white people.
The phrase “white flight” originates from the US, and refers to white families leaving racially mixed urban areas during the civil rights era. As black Americans gained greater social standing and political power, many white families moved to more racially homogenous suburban areas, creating a form of unofficial segregation.
Foley’s comments were pretty quickly condemned on social media.
okay if stopping white flight is the #1 issue for nsw labor in 2018, i’m extremely ready to move back to tito’s yugoslavia circa 1965
— Sabina Husic (@sabinahusic) May 23, 2018
The thing about Luke Foley’s ‘white flight’ statement this morning is that he could have talked about Western Sydney’s issues due to population changes, but he is the one who used ‘white flight’ he’s the one who spoke about Anglo families. He made it about race. @wendy_harmer
— Gentleman of Leisure (@Herr_Benjamin) May 23, 2018
Luke Foley refers to ‘white flight’ and the DT leverages this with this despicable headline ft language like ‘cry for help’ and ‘swamped’. Both delivering for white people, hand in hand. @luke_foleyNSW https://t.co/Ief0St78GL
— Jennine Khalik (@jennineak) May 23, 2018
"White flight"? Are you kidding me? I'd vote for a really old dish sponge before I support Luke Foley. How disappointing. https://t.co/HBZrlWr6aQ
— Shannon Molloy (@sleemol) May 23, 2018
Interested to see if federal Labor MPs from Western Sydney will distance themselves from Luke Foley's "white flight … where many Anglo families have moved out" comments today #auspol
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) May 23, 2018
Naturally, Foley’s remarks were praised by Pauline Hanson.
“Good on Luke Foley. Because it needs to be said,” Hanson told Today this morning. “I have been saying this and I said it 20 years ago. I said there will be places in Australia we won’t recognise as being Australian. I said they are forming ghettos. That is exactly what is happening and people are starting to talk about it.”
Speaking on the ABC this morning, Foley defended his use of the racially charged term.
“[White flight] is an academic term, it’s an identifiable phenomenon in many western cities that reflects the changing cultural mix of many suburbs,” he said. “This is a class issue more than a race issue.”
When asked about receiving Hanson’s endorsement, Foley pointed out that he has previously ruled out a preference deal with One Nation.
“I won’t have a bar of her divisive race-based politics,” he said.
Okay champ.