Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson believes conservative politicians like Pauline Hanson are partly responsible for racism in Tasmania.
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Senator Whish Wilson condemned an attack on a Sri Lankan family at a Launceston bus stop last week, which saw the visitors to Australia assaulted and humiliated.
He believes the attack had an undertone of racism.
When asked if he thought conservative politicians had a case to answer for the attack, Senator Whish-Wilson said: "Certainly, One Nation, Pauline Hanson... they are openly promoting racism in this country.
"They are saying people of certain ethnicities are not welcome in this country.
"I'm very concerned about the national political debate that we're having at the moment. We are seeing racism elevated to the senate in our national conversation."
Fairfax Media made several attempts to contact Senator Hanson.
A request for comment was sent to her media team on Tuesday.
During a follow-up phone call on Wednesday, a spokesman in Brisbane said Senator Hanson was busy in Western Australia.
An attempt to contact a spokesman in Western Australia was also unsuccessful, as was another attempt to contact Senator Hanson on Thursday.
Senator Whish-Wilson said he felt "disgusted and ashamed" when he read about the attack on the family.
"We need to do whatever we can to let these people know that they're welcome here," he said.
Victim, Kaushalya Ilangkovan, who moved to Launceston three weeks ago, is in good spirits, a friend said.
Ms Illangkovan said last week she did not feel the attack was racially motivated.
The two women hurled abuse at the family, threw cardboard boxes on them and tipped a bottle of Coke on Ms Ilangkovan.
An investigation is underway, however, and police are believed to be close to laying charges against two women who carried out the attack.