Rebel Senator Alex Antic in anti-vax limelight with ex-Hillsong pastor, RFK Jr

Right wing MPs, including SA’s Alex Antic, are linking up with conspiracist icon for a live vax “pushback” driven by a disgraced ex-Hillsong leader.

Liberal backbencher Alex Antic will be a key speaker at a controversial live event hosted by disgraced former pastor Pat Mesiti.

Senator Antic, an outspoken critic of vaccination mandates, is booked in as a key speaker alongside Coalition backbencher George Christensen, who was recently reprimanded by Prime Minister Scott Morrison for saying on social media that kids should not be vaccinated.

Mesiti, a disgraced former Hillsong pastor, will host the “Prayer and Pushback” live event on Friday.

Former Hillsong pastor Pat Mesiti leaves Parramatta Court in Sydney.

Anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr after a meeting at Trump Tower in New York City. Picture: Getty Images

In 2016, Mesiti pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife of 13 years at their Sydney home. The couple divorced after and Mesiti has since remarried.

Mesiti is a self-confessed former sex addict who was dumped as a minister by the Hillsong Church after using prostitutes in 2001.

Conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is former US President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, is also set to be a key speaker.

The event will become SA Senator Antic’s latest in a string of controversial media appearances.

Earlier this month, he criticised Australia’s Covid rules and medi-hotels on an alt-right podcast hosted by former US President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon.

He also made claims on conservative American talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight that Australia was becoming a “test case” for the Chinese Community Party’s social credit system – a moral ranking system that monitors the behaviour of the country’s enormous population.

South Australian Senator Alex Antic escorted through Adelaide Airport by police on December 2. Picture: Dean Martin

Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly walks through the crowd and speaks over the microphone at a Rise Up! Melbourne protest. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Senator Antic is expected to continue withholding his vote on the federal government’s legislative agenda when parliament resumes next month, as he demands “protections” against state vaccine mandates.

United Australia Party MP Craig Kelly and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson are also scheduled to speak at the live event.

Senator Antic has not revealed if he is vaccinated against Covid-19, but in early December he was forced into 14 days’ hotel quarantine after arriving in Adelaide from Canberra.

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