Visa hurdle for anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull after controversial Melbourne protest

Pauline Hanson says a Liberal politician who was caught attending a rally where protesters from another group performed a Nazi salute was “welcome” to join One Nation.

Pauline Hanson has extended an invitation to an embattled Victorian Liberal politician to join One Nation after members of her own party pushed to expel her.

Victorian MP Moira Deeming is fighting moves to expel her from the state Liberal party over her involvement in an anti-transgender rights rally where protesters from another group performed a Nazi salute in support.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto announced on Sunday night he would move to have Ms Deeming expelled from the Liberals at a party room vote next week over her attendance at Saturday’s event.

The One Nation leader suggested that Ms Deeming resign before she’s expelled by the Liberals while speaking to Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt.

Their demonstration has been condemned by state and federal politicians. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Senator Pauline Hanson drew comparisons between herself and Moira Deeming Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“You know what I say to that Moira, honey don’t stay with them; they’re not worth staying with them,” she told Bolt on Sky News on Monday.

“If they’re considering throwing you out of the party just give them your resignation and you come across to One Nation and I’ll make you feel very welcome and I will actually give you a voice to represent the people of Victoria.”

Ms Deeming has defended her participation in the ‘Let Women Speak’ event, condemning the actions of the group of men who attended in black balaclavas saying they were “later identified as neo-Nazis, who gatecrashed” on social media.

“I completely reject the beliefs of National Socialists (Nazis) and I have seen first-hand the impact that the Holocaust had on a family member,” she said.

“None of those organising the event had any involvement with these men, as has been confirmed by Victoria Police, the Australian Jewish Association and all the organisers themselves.”

Ms Deeming claimed she was injured by the “extreme left” counter-protesters who “infiltrated the event”.

“I was assaulted and injured, along with multiple other women, including one who was taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious,” she said.

Senator Hanson drew comparisons between herself and Ms Deeming, saying she had been subject to the same treatment by the Liberals when she was kicked out of the party in the 1990s.

“They tried to do the same to me years ago, at meetings that I had, the public turned out in droves to come and see me,” she said.

“Because some people turned up in Nazi uniforms and outfits, they started trying to associate me with them as well, I had a bloody time with it.”

Then prime minister John Howard disendorsed Senator Hanson from the Liberal Party two weeks before the 1996 election over a letter published by the Queensland Times about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Meanwhile the British anti-transgender activist at the centre of the protest has had her plans of a “world tour” thrown up in the air after the neo-Nazis attended the Melbourne rally.

The New Zealand government is reassessing whether Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull will be allowed to travel to the country without a visa after protesters who supported her at her rally in Melbourne on Saturday performed the Nazi salute.

Ms Keen-Minshull, who also goes by Posie Parker, has events planned in Auckland and Wellington this weekend on the next leg of her controversial Let Women Speak tour after spending the past week in Australia.

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull plans to take her controversial speaking tour from Australia to New Zealand. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Immigration NZ general manager Richard Owen said officials were reviewing whether Ms Keen-Minshull was still able to travel to New Zealand without obtaining a visa first, “in the light of the events at the weekend”.

Mr Owen said Ms Keen-Minshull held a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA), which she was allowed to apply for as a UK passport holder and would usually have allowed her to travel to New Zealand without having applied for a visa beforehand.

If Ms Keen-Minshull has to apply for a visa, immigration officials could deny its approval, although Immigration NZ didn’t respond directly to the question of whether it would ban the far-right activist from visiting the country.

Anti-transgender activists clashed with pro-LGBTQI+ rights activists who staged a counter-protest against Ms Keen-Minshull’s Let Women Speak event on Melbourne’s Spring St on Saturday.

Already a controversial figure, Ms Keen-Minshull has further stirred anger after about 30 members of neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network attended the event in an apparent show of support.

Dressed in all black, the group performed Nazi salutes on the steps of Victorian state parliament before being escorted from the scene by police.

Their demonstration quickly sparked condemnation from politicians, with the Andrews state government expected to broaden the Victoria’s laws prohibiting hate symbols to include the Nazi salute in response.

Ms Keen-Minshull expected to appear at another rally in Hobart on Thursday.

Members of a neo-Nazi group attended the protest and performed the Nazi salute. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Federal Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek opened the door to ban the Nazi salute at a commonwealth level, telling Sunrise on Monday: “Of course, it’s something we need to discuss.”

“I think it’s disgusting in modern day Australia that anyone should be giving a Nazi symbol like that and of course I support anything we can do to make people feel safer in Australia to protect them from this sort of harassment and intimidation,” she said.

“People turning up in black clothes, balaclavas, doing the Nazi salute is completely unacceptable in modern day Australia. I can’t even believe in 2023 we still have to say ‘this is unacceptable in Australia.’”