Fraser Anning’s shock plebiscite pitch on restricting non-European migration and banning Muslim migration
KATTER’S Australia Party is considering cutting ties with its newest senator Fraser Anning, hours after he pushed for a plebiscite to ban Muslim migration to Australia.
National
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BOB Katter has declared his party is “anti-racist” as he revealed they were considering cutting ties with new senator Fraser Anning.
It comes after Senator Anning, an ex-One Nation member who joined Katter’s Australia Party this year, pushed for a plebiscite to ban Muslim migration and restrict non-European migration.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Katter said Senator Anning’s rhetoric was “a problem for our party”.
“The president of the party (Shane Paulger) has expressed some very grave reservations and I’ve made it perfectly clear to Fraser Anning there’s no more going down this pathway. This is an anti-racist party,” he said.
Pushed on whether he was going to cut ties with Mr Anning, Mr Katter revealed the president had spoken to him last week about his concerns regarding the senate and they had discussed them again today.
Senator Anning’s motion was condemned as “racist” and “xenophobic” in Parliament today as the government, Labor and Greens united to block it.
In a highly unusual move, the Katter Australia Party senator’s bid to launch the plebiscite was shot down in less than 15 minutes after Coalition, Labor, Greens and crossbench senators voted to prevent his bill from even being put before Parliament.
Even One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who has also called for a plebiscite on immigration, did not back Senator Anning’s bill.
“Australia left behind the White Australia policy 50 years ago and it should remain in the past,” Labor senator Jacinta Collins told the Senate.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale, who dubbed the bill racist and xenophobic, said: “The sooner this bill is consigned to the dustbin of history the better”.
Senior government minister Mathias Cormann told the Senate: “We do not want to see it proceed in any way. Australia has a proud track record over many, many years now of welcoming people from all corners of the world.”
“We pride ourselves to be a country where every migrant who chooses Australia to become their home, who works hard and makes a contribution is warmly welcomed,” he said.
“We don’t believe in Australia we should go back to what is reflected in this bill.”
Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister David Coleman also condemned the legislation as “appalling”.
In an odd twist, the Coalition, Labor and Greens first voted to refuse Senator Anning’s attempt to delay introducing the bill until November and then immediately blocked it from being put before Parliament.
It comes during a week where the Coalition was forced to apologise after it mistakenly voted for a Pauline Hanson motion that “it’s okay to be white,” a phrase used by white supremacists and the alt-right.
Senator Anning, who was condemned for using the Nazi term “the final solution” in his maiden speech in August, had attempted to introduce legislation which would allow Australians to vote on whether the nation should ban Muslim migration or restrict non-European immigration.
It would have allowed a plebiscite with three questions to be established, asking Australians to vote on whether the current rate of immigration should be reduced, whether Australia’s immigration policy “should be changed to favour predominantly European immigration” and whether there should be a Muslim migration ban.
His legislation recommends the final question be: “Given the record of previous Muslim immigrants to this country in terms of welfare dependency, crime and terrorism, should further Muslim immigration be prohibited?”
Both Senator Anning and Senator Hanson have previously called for a plebiscite on immigration.
In his maiden speech in August, the Katter Australia Party senator praised the White Australia policy which “actively discriminated in favour of Europeans”.
“We as a nation are entitled to insist that those who are allowed to come here predominantly reflect the historic European Christian composition of Australian society and embrace our language, culture and society as a people,” Senator Anning said.
.@DavidColemanMP on Fraser Anning’s motion to hold a plebiscite to ban Muslim immigration:
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 18, 2018
To suggest we should have an immigration policy which excludes people based on their religion is appalling and disgraceful.
MORE: https://t.co/EmzrOn9NwJ #newsday pic.twitter.com/KXpOXK4GBq
“The final solution to the immigration problem, of course, is a popular vote,” he said.
“We need a plebiscite to allow the Australian people to decide whether we want wholesale non-English-speaking immigrants from the Third World, and particularly if they want any Muslims, or whether they want to return to the predominantly European immigration policy of the pre-Whitlam consensus.”
Senator Anning was condemned for the speech but has refused to apologise for his use of the term ‘the final solution’, which was used by the Nazi’s to refer to the mass killing of Jews.
The ex-One Nation senator was catapulted into Parliament after Malcolm Roberts was ousted in the citizenship saga.
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