Janet Rice

Janet Rice is an Australian politician, member of Australian Greens Party and Senator for Victoria. She is responsible for establishing the Greens Party in the state of Victoria. Janet Rice is known for her anti-India, anti-Israel views. In fact Australian Jews have accused The Greens Party, Janet Rice and her colleague Lee Rhiannon of ‘donating‘ money to Palestinian causes. She is regularly seen with Stand with Kashmir activists, Khalistanis and on Kashmir forums organised by Pakistan High Commission in Australia. Greens Party consider Kashmir a ‘disputed territory‘. Interesting to note, the Greens Party and Janet Rice have consistently voted against any changes to Counter Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill terming it draconian.

In February 2022, Rice attended a webinar “Standing with the Kashmiri People” organised by Pakistan High Commission. The webinar was organised to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day‘ in Australia. She was a keynote speaker along with another Greens member Pakistani-origin Mehreen Faruqi, David Shoebridge, former Australian Sentor Lee Rhiannon, convenor of ‘Azad Jammu Kashmir’ (AJK) chapter of Indian separatist group, Hurriyat, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Director of University of Western Australia’s Center for Muslim States and Societies, Samina Yasmeen, retired Pakistani Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri and Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of jailed terrorist Yasin Mallick. In the webinar she said “it was heartbreaking to see videos of Indian brutality”. Rice was referring to police action against students from Kashmir and some Indian Muslims celebrating Pakistan’s cricket T20 victory over India.

Talking at an event organised by The Humanism Project, The Genocide Watch and Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) on the anniversary of 20th anniversary of Godhra riots titled “India on the Brink”, Janet Rice, called for all to stand up against India’s “government, and ruling party and the Hindutva ideology”. She further went on to say “Muslims and other religious minorities are facing dehumanisation, violence and fear of genocide”. She deliberately chose to ignore Indian judiciary’s verdict that the Godhra train burning was a well-planned conspiracy that killed 59 Hindu karsevaks returning from Ayodhya.

In 2021, she along with Mehreen Faruqi tabled a motion in Australian Parliament to recognise Kashmiri’s right to self-determination. The motion was discussed in a webinar organised by Pakistan High Commission on the anniversary of India’s abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A titled Youm-e-Istehsal (The Day of Exploitation). In attendance were Rice’s Greens Party colleagues, the then Pakistan High Commissioner Babar Amin and the then ‘President’ of ‘Azad Jammu Kashmir’ Sardar Masood Khan. Incidentally, Massod Khan was nominated by Pakistan as High Commissioner for The United States. Biden regime blocked due to his connections with terror groups and termed him “bona fide terrorist sympathiser“.

Rice attended International Yoga day organised by Hindu Council Australia where she heaped praises on India and Hindu community. Yet she has never missed an opportunity to bash India and Hindus. She met Pakistan High Commissioner Babar Amin in February 2021 who “briefed her regarding Pakistan’s vision of connectivity, sustainable economic development, and peaceful neighbourhood. He also apprised her of human rights violations in IIOJK and thanked her for raising the issue in Australian Parliament and other fora.” Jay Shah, President of Overseas Friends of BJP, has accused the Greens and their members of importing ‘Hinduphobia‘ into Australia.

In 2020, Rice demanded resignation of Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farell, for meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Denouncing the meeting as a “disgrace”, Rice went on to say RSS’s “advocacy of a Hindu Rashtra…where by definition the minorities are denied rights and privileges. They demonise some of the non-Hindu citizens of India, particularly those of Muslim background”. Rice names ‘human rights reports’ of staunch Hindu haters, Raju Rajagoplan of Hindus for Human Rights and Pieter Friedrich, a K2 supporter, on the radar of Indian security establishment since 2006

In a roundtable “Human rights ‘abuses’: Funding to India should be vetted, Greens tell Australian govt” organised by The Humanism Project in 2020, Rice called for the Australian government to support UN based investigations into human rights abuses by India. She went to further say “Wherever we provide assistance in any country, we need to ensure that foreign security, peace and military units that receive Australian support are subject to the full vetting process to make sure we are not funding units associated with human rights abuses.”

In 2017 on the occasion of Ramzan, Rice attended and Iftar party organised by Melbourne Muslims. As reported by AMUST, Greens party in the past have hosted many Iftar parties for Muslims in Australia. No corresponding Diwali parties were hosted by Greens for community building with Hindus. In the same Janet Rice hosted an Iftar for Muslim women in Melbourne and also invited a hardline Islamic preacher, Sheikh Mustapa Sarakibi, who opposed tough terror laws and supports Sharia law was invited to Ramzan dinner hosted by the Greens.

Sheikh Mustapa Sarakibi along with Islamist outfit Hizub-ut-Tahrir launched a petition opposing the then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s anti-terror laws saying the laws were unjustly targeting Muslim community. Sarabiki also believes in jaziya tax to be paid by non-Muslims.

Below are some of her social media posts.