Like most people, Yassmin Abdel-Magied wrote Lest We Forget on Twitter on Anzac Day.
But then she added in brackets – Manus.Nauru.Syria.Palestine. Her post aimed to remind people not to forget those places but it backfired, and she was mercilessly attacked by people all over Australia, including politicians and celebrities.
Social media users were quick to blast the ABC presenter as “disrespectful”, “disloyal”, “treasonous” and “pushing her own agenda”. There were even calls for her deportation.
She later amended the post to say “Lest We Forget”, and wrote a comment stating that it was “brought to her attention” that what she wrote was “disrespectful” and apologised “unreservedly”
And now Abdel-Magied has fired back over the abuse she received, telling a group of year 9 students from Dapto that it was “unfair.”
“Who is anyone to tell me what it means to be Australian?” she asked.
“The only people that have the rights to this land are indigenous people. So if it’s an indigenous person saying to me ‘girl, take a step back,’ then I will listen to that. But I’m an Australian citizen and unless we get to the point where I get deported for misdemeanours, then I’m going to say what I want and you just have to walk away.”
The ABC presenter is no stranger to controversy, having also gotten into an argument with Senator Jacqui Lambie on Q&A, defending Islam as “the most feminist religion.”