Fraser Anning defends appearance at far-right protest
Scott Morrison has slammed Queensland Senator Fraser Anning for attending Saturday’s neo-Nazi rally in Melbourne, as a petition calling for his travel claim to be rejected attracts thousands of signatures.
National
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denounced Fraser Anning for going to a far-right rally in St Kilda on the weekend after the Queensland senator charged taxpayers almost $3000 for business class flights to attend the event.
Pressure is growing on Senator Anning to repay the money, while Labor and the Greens are urging the Morrison Government to refuse to accept his vote in the Senate.
Mr Morrison said Senator Anning should be denounced for attending the “racist rally” and associating himself with “extreme and offensive racist views that have no place in our society”.
“He is a repeat offender on these issues,” the PM said.
“Australians are not anti-migrant nor racist. Genuine concerns held by fair minded Australians about immigration levels, border protection or law and order should not be used as a cover or be hijacked to push hateful and ugly racist agendas.”
OPINION: Taxpayers shouldn’t pay a cent for Anning’s neo-Nazi jaunt
CHORUS OF CONDEMNATION FOR ANNING
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged voters to “get rid of (Anning)” if he stands for re-election as a Queensland senator.
“As the granddaughter of Polish migrants who made Australia home after fleeing the brutality of the Nazi regime, I am appalled that an elected representative would attend such a rally,” the premier said in a statement today.
Labor frontbencher Penny Wong said the Morrison Government had done a number of “deals” with Senator Anning to get key legislation passed and the Coalition should no longer negotiate with him.
She said Senator Anning was using taxpayer funds to legitimise “fascist” views and he should “consider his position”.
“He ought to see from the reaction that this is not something the majority of Australians think he had any place being at,” Senator Wong said.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young urged the federal government to condemn the independent MP, saying his attendance at the rally shows he is “unfit to be in parliament”.
Senator Hanson-Young urged the government to reject his vote.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for Fraser Anning to hang out with his Nazi mates. He should pay the money back. The Government should refuse to accept his vote when counting the numbers in Parliament. He’s unfit to be a Senator.
— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) January 6, 2019
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten also took to Twitter to condemn Mr Anning’s attendance at the rally.
There is no excuse or explanation that justifies Anning’s attendance at this rally, and his views have no place in the parliament. When you’re siding with neo-Nazis, you’re on the wrong side. He disrespects the memory of Australians who fought to defeat this evil ideology. https://t.co/g52cxeIkFp
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) January 6, 2019
Senator Anning charged taxpayers $2852.80 for his business class flights between Brisbane and Melbourne, which included scenes of people giving Nazi salutes.
ANNING DEFENDS CLAIMING FOR RALLY
Senator Anning hit the airwaves today to defend his attendance at the rally.
Mr Anning insists he was just doing his job when he attended the event at St Kilda beach on Saturday organised by the far-right group United Patriots Front, at a taxpayer expense of $2800 for return flights.
“All politicians have travel allowance to do what we have to do. It is my job and the last thing I wanted to do was be down there on Saturday. I had my family with me and I did not go down there to have a picnic,” he told Seven’s Sunrise today.
“I believe I was doing what I am supposed to be doing and that is to represent the people of Queensland and particularly among the people who support me.”
An interview on Nine’s Today show became heated after Mr Anning said the protesters at the St Kilda foreshore were “decent Australian people who demonstrated their dislike for what the Australian Government has done”.
That comment fired up Today reporter Lara Vella who hit back saying: “You claim people giving the Nazi salute are decent Australians?”
Mr Anning said the people he was with weren’t performing any Nazi salutes.
But the reporter pointed out that at the protest Mr Anning stood side-by-side with United Patriots Front founder Blair Cottrell, who has said a picture of Adolf Hitler should be in every classroom, asking: “Do you support those views?”
Mr Anning said it was the first time he had met Mr Cottrell, who helped organise the rally, and “obviously I don’t support any views like that”.
He also rejected the assertion that he is a Nazi sympathiser, after calling for a ‘final solution’ to Australia’s immigration policy
“None at all. The final solution in my speech was taken out of context and since then, you will find 22 other politicians have spoken the exact same two words and nobody seems to get outraged over that,” he told Sunrise.
He added he is a “supporter” of the Jewish community and particular for the Israelis.
A petition on change.org to get Anning to pay for his own airfare has collected over 12,000 signatures within 20 hours of being established.
Titled “Senator Anning should pay his own airfare to Nazi rallies”, the petition originally aimed for 7500 signatures.
“He claims that this visit was “government business”. It was not. This visit had zero relevance to his apparent job as a senator for Queensland,” the description on the petition says.
It continues: “Senator Anning needs to pay for his own weird hobbies. I call on the leader of the Senate to instigate action against Senator Anning’s travel claim.”
Originally published as Fraser Anning defends appearance at far-right protest
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