Coalition MP praises The Punisher’s drug war

A COALITION MP has thrown his support behind the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war calling for a round up of Aussie drug dealers.

CONTROVERSIAL Coalition MP George Christensen has praised Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war while calling for a “round up” of all suspected drug traffickers and producers.

Posting a link to an article on his Facebook page about Mr Duterte’s boast about having killed criminals himself while he was mayor of Davao, Mr Christensen wrote: “A leader who personally sees off drug dealers? And the problem is?”

He quickly clarified his comments, saying while he didn’t personally support elected officials shooting people, he agreed with the Philippines crackdown on drugs and believed Australia could learn from the approach.

“The point is, if we are serious about curbing the blight of drugs, we need to step up the fight,” Mr Christensen wrote, before advocating a “round up of all known and suspected traffickers and producers and some serious questioning and interrogation by police”.

“Instead of the West sneering at Duterte and the Philippines, perhaps we can learn from them,” he wrote.

‘Perhaps we can learn from him.’ Picture: AP Photo/Heng Sinith

He also calls for stronger penalties for drug producers and traffickers, making reference to Singapore’s justice system, where offenders can be punished with canning.

“The Singapore-style punishment system of caning seems too good for some of the scum that profit off of the misery of others with the drug trade,” he wrote.

Mr Duterte, who is also known as The Punisher, has come under fierce criticism for his brutal crackdown on drugs, which has led to more than 2000 suspects being killed in what many are calling extrajudicial killings.

The United Nations has condemned Mr Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms”.

But Mr Christensen claims there had been no extrajudicial killings, posting several links to news stories about a report released by the Philippines’ Senate Committee as proof the practice did not exist.

“The stuff about extrajudicial killings has been found to be nonsense,” he declared.