Green eggs and Di Natale’s team of haters

Greens leader stands by two of his candidates who made racist jokes on social media.

Greens leader Richard di Natale, centre, is standing by two of his candidates, George Hanna, left, and James Dessi, right, who made racist jokes on social media despite condemning other parties over hate speech.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has been accused of double standards as he stands by two of his candidates who made racist jokes on social media despite condemning other parties over hate speech.

The Greens candidate for the seat of Lalor, Jay Dessi, joked about having sex with children and dead people, made a racist joke about an Asian man’s eyes, posted a cartoon about oral sex and liked a post about abortion and child pornography. Next to a photograph of an Asian friend wearing a frog hat, Mr Dessi wrote: “Which eyes are the real eyes?”

Greens candidate George Hann shared this meme of Janinta Price.

In the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, Greens candidate George Hanna has refused to apologise directly for sharing a meme in which Liberal candidate Jacinta Price was called a “coconut”

When asked if he would disendorse the candidate, Senator Di Natale told the ABC: “I’m getting a briefing on that. They have given a full apology, in particular the gentleman in the Northern Territory, himself an aboriginal man.”

Senator Di Natale also downplayed links between his party and the woman who tried to egg Scott Morrison yesterday at a Country Women’s Association event.

Amber Holt, who was tackled by secrutiy staff immediately after throwing the egg, has shared numerous Facebook posts in support of the Greens and labelled all right-wing Australian politicians Nazis.

Senator Di Natale distanced himself from the protester, telling the ABC: “There are millions of people who vote for the Greens.” He branded the attack on Mr Morrison “disgraceful”.

“We’ve made it very clear that the way to defeat a rotten government - and this has been one of the most rotten governments in this country’s history - is in 10 days’ time at the ballot box,” he said.

Mr Hanna, who is Aboriginal, told Darwin radio he did not believe the meme he reposted was racist. “It (coconut) is a derogatory term used by Aboriginal people against other Aboriginal people that they feel don’t do the right thing by them,” he said.

He said the Liberals were “pulling for the race card because they’re ­struggling in this electorate”.

Resources Minister Matthew Canavan urged Senator Di Natale to sack his candidate.

“I’m not going to hold my breath, but if Richard Di Natale had any standards over his party then this ­candidate would be ­immediately sacked,” Senator Canavan said.

Mr Dessi’s online conduct came to light after the Greens member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, said last week his Labor ­opponent Luke Creasey’s decision to resign was the right one. Mr Creasey was caught having made offensive posts on Facebook.

Labor MP Joanne Ryan, who holds Lalor, said Mr Dessi’s comments were insensitive, offensive and demonstrated poor judgment from someone seeking public ­office. “Adam Bandt and Richard Di Natale need to explain why there is one standard for Greens candidates and another for everyone else,” Ms Ryan said.

An image that posted by Jay Dessi.

Mr Dessi, a financial technology developer, said he was “truly sorry for the language used” in ­social media posts he made years ago and comments he shared.

“The language and content was plainly offensive, and doesn’t reflect who I am today,” he said. “I apologise unreservedly to anyone that it may have hurt.”

A Greens spokesman said the party was disappointed by his language. “The content of these posts and ‘likes’ is contrary to Australian Greens social media policy, and he has apologised for that,” the spokesman said.

Josh Frydenberg, whose campaign material has been defaced with Nazi symbolism, said the Greens, who are running high-profile candidate Julian Burnside in Kooyong, were “extreme, ­aggressive and intolerant of views that don’t match their own”.

Scott Morrison helps a woman at the CWA event named Margaret after she was knocked over after the egging attempt. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Senator Di Natale yesterday condemned Ms Holt’s alleged ­attack on the Prime Minister.

“We think the way to defeat a shocking government is at the ballot box,” Senator Di Natale said. “We can have a fierce contest of ideas but we shouldn’t resort, no one should ­resort to these sorts of attacks.”

Scrutiny of Senator Di Natale’s candidates comes after the Greens leader pushed for legislation to regulate the media and stamp out alleged hate speech, targeting Sky News and News Corp commentators ­Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny and 2GB radio host Alan Jones.

In the wake of the alleged egging attempt on the Prime Minister, Senator Di Natale agreed there had been a disturbing trend of physical attacks on politicians.

The egg hits the Prime Minister on the head. Picture: Seven News

Ms Holt, 24, was charged with common assault and possession of a prohibited drug (cannabis) by NSW Police yesterday after allegedly approaching Mr Morrison and attempting to throw an egg at the back of his head as he mingled with elderly women.

She has “liked” the Albury Greens Facebook page and shared numerous posts from Senator Di Natale and NSW Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi but the party said she was not a member of the ­Australian, NSW or Victorian Greens.

Ms Holt said on Facebook she studied at Charles Sturt University but the university said she was not a current student. It would not confirm if she was a former student.

“The university does not condone or endorse Ms Holt’s behaviour. The university will not be making any further comment on the matter,” a spokeswoman said.

After the Christchurch terrorist attacks on two mosques and Queensland senator Fraser Anning’s comments blaming the atrocity on New Zealand’s immigration program, Ms Holt posted: “This is actually outrageous. My heart goes out to all impacted by today’s events in Christchurch. Why is every right-wing politician in Australia a Nazi?”

Senator Anning was later egged in an unrelated incident.

Ms Holt also shared an Internat­ional Women’s Day message from Senator Di Natale and urged her Facebook followers not to let the Prime Minister’s “bigoted views bring you down”.

Mr Morrison described the ­alleged egging attempt as an “ugly type of protest”, and called on Australians to disagree better.

He compared the incident to vegans who invaded farmers’ land and members of militant unions who “stood over” small business owners and employees.

Senior sources in Mr Morrison’s office said there would not be a review of the Prime Minister’s ­security detail, which had “acted very quickly”.

A woman who Mr Morrison ­referred to as Margaret was knocked over during the incident. The CWA said she was “shaken, but she is OK”.

Bill Shorten said the incident was “appalling and disgraceful ­behaviour”. He said any protests approaching violence were “completely unacceptable”.

Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale, Amos Aikman, Greg Brown