Anning faces censure and protesters target Senator
Protesters have clashed with police as controversial senator Fraser Anning attended a Queensland gun show, while the Prime Minister said he should be charged for assaulting a teenage protester who egged him.
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PROTESTERS clashed with police as Senator Fraser Anning attended a gun show in Ipswich, just days after his controversial comments about the Christchurch terror attack.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also demanded the senator face “the full force of the law” after he twice punched a teenager who egged him in Melbourne.
Senator Anning will also be censured in a rare bipartisan motion when Parliament returns, which will strongly condemn his actions.
While the senator will likely escape any further punishment in the Senate, Victorian police are still reviewing Saturday’s egging incident, including the actions of Senator Anning.
Yesterday, protesters filming on mobile phones shouted at police who barred the entrances of the Brisbane Gun Show where the Senator was in attendance.
Event organiser Paul Brush confirmed Senator Anning was in attendance, but said he was not harassed by protesters once inside the event.
“At the end of the day it was just a bunch of tools that wanted to do stupid things,” he said.
The Senator was also harassed at Brisbane airport on Saturday night, with mobile phone footage circulating online showing an unknown man shouting obscenities at him and asking if he felt remorse.
Senator Anning has attracted widespread condemnation after he blamed the Christchurch massacre on Muslim immigration.
Asked if a censure motion was enough, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “I think the full force of the law should be applied to Senator Anning.”
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said the debate needed to be more respectful.
“Most politicians are not like Fraser Anning. Thank God,” he said.
New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia Dame Annette King said it was up to Australia as to whether Senator Anning was fit for Parliament.
“He does not represent New Zealand views, nor Australia’s views. They are atrocious and we reject them, absolutely,” she said.
The censure motion will criticises Senator Anning for: “his inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion”.
A spokeswoman for Government Senate leader Mathias Cormann said the motion was a “very serious measure.
“Ultimately it is up to the voters in his state to determine his future at the upcoming election,” she said.
Censure motions have no constitutional or legal consequences, but act as “an expression of the Senate’s disapproval of actions” and are intended to have “significant political impact”.
Senator Anning avoided the media yesterday, but is expected to hold a press conference in Brisbane today.
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