Victoria’s hot seats LIVE updates: Angry scenes at council meeting as ethnic battlelines are drawn over local bazaar

Last night, I attended a fiery Dandenong Council meeting that moved to temporarily stop referring to the central Thomas Street shopping strip as the “Afghan Bazaar” until after the election.

The naming of the shopping strip that sells skewered meats and freshly baked flat breads has been simmering for years but has now become a hot button issue energising voters I’ve spoken to ahead of the federal election.

It’s a complex debate that encapsulates national identity, genocide and who gets to decide the branding of a migrant community. And now, it’s playing into the federal election campaign, with claims that politicians are weaponising ethnic tensions for votes flying around left, right and centre.

Bruce is home to Victoria’s largest group of voters born in Afghanistan, made up of multiple ethnic groups, including Hazaras, which are the most populous in the electorate, and Pashtuns, the dominant group in Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, a petition was launched by some Hazaras calling for the shopping strip to be renamed “Little Bamiyan” claiming the word “Afghan” was linked to genocide of their people and the name was traumatising to many who live and work in the area.

The Pashtuns responded with a counter petition, calling for the Afghan Bazaar name to be protected as a proud symbol of national pride and lucrative marketing tool for local traders. They claimed any suggestion to the contrary was divisive, as all people in Afghanistan have suffered under the Taliban. Both petitions garnered more than 30,000 signatures.

Greens councillor turned federal candidate Rhonda Garad helped bring the Hazaras’ petition to council in March. It was voted down unanimously by Labor aligned councillors, who felt the Afghan Bazaar name should stay.

Many Hazaras who have long been Labor supporters felt let down, and began campaigning for Garad in the federal election.

However, on Monday night, the council’s position changed. A new motion was brought forward to temporarily suspend all references to the Afghan Bazaar name until after a round of community consultation that would begin in May, conveniently after the federal election.

While the Hazaras celebrated outside with music and dancing, Pashtuns in the room were furious. Some I spoke with felt the council was now doing the bidding of Labor candidate Julian Hill to win votes among Hazaras.

“Shame on you guys!” one person shouted in the chamber. “Shame! Shame!”

Dozens of men, wearing a combination of traditional Afghan clothes and western suits, filed out of the room, after some holding placards: “Dandenong council don’t play with our identity.”

“This is a Labor power play … The Age? Who was she invited by? The Labor party?” one man shouted into the hallway.

To complicate matters even further, Bruce Liberal candidate Zahid Safi is from Pashtun background.

A submission to a government inquiry into the war in Afghanistan that Safi co-authored in 2021, in which he criticised Hazara “warlords” in the country, has been circulating in WhatsApp groups and drawing condemnation from local Hazaras.

Privately, Labor blames the Greens for flaming ethnic tensions by supporting the Hazara petition. The Greens blame Labor for not listening to the community. Some Hazaras believe the Liberal campaign is now whipping up Pashtun opposition for political gain too.

Whichever way you slice it, emotions have reached fever pitch.

In a statement Hill said the name was a matter for the council and denied exploiting divisions in the community.

“While out doorknocking, the overwhelming feedback is most people think it should simply remain named Thomas Street,” he said.

“If there is a marketing term for Thomas Street then it should be something that attracts people to shop and eat.”

Barat Batoor, who started the first petition, flipped open his phone to show several abusive messages he said has received in recent weeks, including a video of one man dressed in a balaclava issuing threats to his life and calling him a “mice eater”, a racist trope for Hazaras.

As we were speaking, I received a text message from Namatullah Kadrie, another Hazara community member, with a link to a fresh petition.

“Zahid Safi is unfit to represent the people of Bruce in the Australian Federal Parliament,” was the title.

Within a few hours, it had more than 1000 signatures. “This will triple overnight,” Kadrie said.

Part of the petition reads: “We, the undersigned voters of Bruce, and Australians who value truth, inclusivity and respect call on the Liberal Party of Australia to immediately dis-endorse Zahid Safi as the party’s candidate and/or for Safi to apologise and withdraw his candidacy for the upcoming federal election.”

The petition now has more than 4000 signatures. Community leaders are calling for calm, but the battle lines have been drawn. While the Gaza war is dominating political debate in many electorates this election – in Bruce, it’s another deep-seated conflict that’s mobilising votes.

Safi did not respond to requests for comment, but a party spokesperson said the Liberals were very proud to support Safi, describing him as “a candidate whose family fled Afghanistan because of the Taliban and has chosen to make Australia his home because of the freedom and lifestyle our country offers”.

“It is unfortunate that Zahid has been the victim of prejudice because of his Afghan background, but Zahid is not defined by his background, and will continue to campaign to represent all the residents of Bruce, regardless of their background.”