Anthony Albanese calls on Scott Morrison to ‘dissociate’ himself from colleagues spreading Trump fraud claims
The federal Opposition leader has given Prime Minister Scott Morrison some firm advice following the US election.
Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to “dissociate himself” from members of his government who are questioning America’s democratic process.
The Labor leader congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday morning after his victory was declared at about 3.30am AEDT.
Mr Albanese said it was good that Mr Morrison had accepted the election outcome and also congratulated President-elect Biden.
“What I suggested was that Scott Morrison needs to stand up for democracy. He’s done that in acknowledging the election of President-elect Biden,” he said.
“The other thing that needs to happen is that Scott Morrison needs to dissociate himself and his government from government members who are questioning the democratic process and continue to do so.”
“The fact is that these conspiracy theories do nothing to advance our common interest of standing up for democratic values,” Mr Albanese said.
“You can’t have the leader of the Australian Government saying one thing and members of his own party saying something very different.”
Mr Albanese’s comments come after the federal Coalition MP for Dawson, George Christensen, continued to peddle misleading claims about the US election.
Mr Christensen posted to Facebook on Thursday that his prediction President Trump would win “didn’t take Democrat vote fraud into account”.
On the same day, he wrote that he thought “Wisconsin was the cheese state not the cheat state”.
On Sunday morning he shared a statement from Mr Trump claiming the Biden campaign wanted “fraudulent” ballots counted.
A number of Mr Christensen’s posts were slapped with a warning by Facebook for misleading claims.
He also circulated another post where he said he had “narrowly avoided Facebook jail” and that the Democratic Party “did not commit voter fraud”.
His other misleading posts have not been taken down.
Joe Hockey, former Liberal treasurer and the Australian ambassador to the US for four years between 2016 and 2020, was widely criticised over his comments on 2GB about voter fraud.
He said there were “plenty of good reasons” for Mr Trump to challenge the results and said he found it “hard to believe” 93 per cent of people in Washington DC voted for Biden.
When asked about President Trump’s refusal to concede on Sunday morning, Mr Morrison said he had “great confidence” in American democracy.
“I have great confidence in the American democracy and I have been expressing those consistently,” Mr Morrison said when asked what Australia would do in the event Mr Trump refused to leave.
“This is not a new process, it is time honoured and time established process and I have confidence it will resolve itself in time.”
Mr Morrison said he would continue to “work closely” with President Trump and his administration during the transition period between now and January 20.
Grim detail in bombshell defence report
A landmark report into suicides among current and former defence personnel will be handed down today – with the Royal Commission chair calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to save lives.
Push to give every worker 12 extra leave days
All Australian workers could get an extra 12 days of leave a year for severe period pain, hormone therapy and vasectomies, under a new push by a powerful union.
Bombshell detail in ‘worst pedo’ case
The actions of a man dubbed “Australia’s worst pedophile” had been on the police radar before - but it would be years until police had enough evidence to arrest and charge him.