Fraser Anning’s ‘final solution’ speech causes staffer to resign

BOB Katter has suggested a journalist needs a ‘hiding’ for asking whether his Lebanese grandfather would have been blocked from coming to Australia under Fraser Anning’s immigration policy.

BOB Katter has suggested a journalist be beaten for asking whether his Lebanese grandfather would have been blocked from coming to Australia under Fraser Anning’s immigration policy.

In a fiery interview on Sky News this morning, the Katter Australia Party leader told host Tom Connell he needed “a big hiding” for asking “racist” questions about his grandfather.

Their clash rounded out an 18 minute interview where Mr Katter again backed his KAP senator over his maiden speech, which all but called for a White Australia policy and a ban on Muslim migration.

Earlier this morning, it emerged Senator Anning’s policy adviser had quit over the speech, which also used the Nazi term “the final solution”.

“There’s been a lot of talk about your grandfather, born in Lebanon. Would he be allowed in under Anning’s Australia?” Connell asked Mr Katter.

“You know, I think that asking people about where their forebears come from or commenting on it is the height of bad manners,” Katter responded.

“If my mother had ever heard me talking about money or about someone’s racial origins, I would have got a big hiding.”

Connell then explained: “This is just a reflection that you’re the leader of the party, Bob Katter, and a policy that you’re advocating might mean that ultimately if it was in back then that you wouldn’t be here.”

“You need a big hiding for ever mentioning, you need a big hiding for ever mentioning anything of that nature,” Katter responded.

“It’s just the birth place of your grandfather though. I’m not getting into ...” Connell said before Katter interupted: “Well, this is the seventh time you’ve talked over me. It is a racist remark by you and you stand condemned for a racist remark.”

“It is racist. And every single migrant that comes to this country who has that sort of question put at him, you should say what I say, I’m an Australian.”

“My grandfather was an Australian on my father’s side, my father was an Australian,” he said.

“They’re Australians, mate. Don’t worry about where they come from, they’re Australians and bloody good Australians too.”

Connell disagreed, saying it was not a racist remark.

His Sky News colleagues hit out at Mr Katter’s “hypocrisy” on Twitter saying: “Bob Katter and his party are so preoccupied with where our immigrants come from yet he loses the plot when anyone mentions that his grandfather was born in Lebanon.”

Bob Katter and his party are so preoccupied with where our immigrants come from yet he loses the plot when anyone mentions that his grandfather was born in Lebanon #hypocrisy #auspol

— Kieran Gilbert (@Kieran_Gilbert) August 16, 2018

Earlier today, it emerged Senator Anning’s policy adviser has resigned “effective immediately” over the senator’s provocative maiden speech, in which he used the Nazi term “the final solution”.

Richard Mcgilvray, who worked for Mr Anning for 10 months, announced his resignation on LinkedIn yesterday as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Opposition leader Bill Shorten and dozens of other MPs rose in Parliament to condemn Senator Anning’s speech.

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Fraser Anning’s media adviser resigned over LinkedIn yesterday after working for the Senator for 10 months. Picture: Kym Smith

“I do not condone Senator Anning’s speech,” Mr Mcgilvray wrote on his profile.

“His reference to ‘the Final Solution’ was not something I had seen, heard of, or discussed prior to his remarks last night and as a consequence, within hours of Senator Anning’s speech, I resigned effective immediately.”

Senator Anning has refused to apologise for his use of the term, which was used by the Nazis to refer to the mass killing of Jews.

The senator said yesterday he had not meant the term to be a reference to Nazi Germany and had been taken out of context.

Both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten condemned Mr Anning’s speech. Picture: AAP

His claim was rejected by a host of MPs, including Labor leader Bill Shorten who said it wasn’t a “piece of Twitter stupidity composed in haste, it was a first speech nine months in the making.”

“It’s a phrase torn from the darkest pages of human history. Two words which speak of the brutalisation and murder of millions, two words that evokes fear, grief and trauma and loss,” Mr Shorten said.

“The senator ridicules his critics by saying these words need to be seen in their context.”

Jewish MP Josh Frydenberg called on Senator Anning to immediately apologise for using the term and to visit a Holocaust museum to hear from survivors for whom the pain was still raw.

Senator Anning’s party leader Bob Katter yesterday said he stood by the senator’s speech “1000 per cent” but insisted the party was “pro-Jewish” and “pro-Israel”.

The senator also said he was a supporter of the Jewish community but stood by his call to end Muslim migration.

Senator Pauline Hanson said Mr Anning’s speech went “too far”. Picture: Kym Smith

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, Senator Anning’s ex boss, was among a host of MPs who yesterday called his speech “appalling”.

Senator Hanson said he went “too far”, but also announced her own proposal yesterday for a plebiscite on immigration.

Mr Turnbull also the reference in Senator Anning’s speech to ‘the Final Solution’ was “a shocking insult to the memory of over six million Jews who died in the Holocaust”.

“The reference to the Final Solution in that speech was appalling, and we condemn that and the insult it offered to the memory of those Jewish martyrs, just as we condemn the racism, the shocking rejection of the Australian values that have made us the successful multicultural nation that we are today,” he said.

Originally published as Fraser Anning’s ‘final solution’ speech causes staffer to resign