Anning stands by Christchurch massacre comment

Fraser Anning has stood by his response to the Christchurch terror attack as the Greens fight to get him suspended.

Queensland senator Fraser Anning. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Queensland senator Fraser Anning has stood by his divisive response to the Christchurch terrorist attack as the Greens face an uphill battle tomorrow to convince the Senate to suspend him from federal parliament.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale will attempt to amend a bipartisan censure motion against Senator Anning to include a two-week suspension from parliamentary sittings and committees.

The Coalition and Labor have left open the possibility of voting for the suspension but the government’s Senate leader Mathias Cormann said the chamber “must proceed with caution” because no senator had ever been ejected from parliament for conduct outside of the upper house.

Senator Anning blamed the Christchurch massacre, in which an Australian man with far-right extremist views allegedly shot dead 50 people at two mosques, on New Zealand’s immigration program “which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate”.

He tonight claimed the censure motion agreed to by Senator Cormann and Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong was a “blatant attack on free speech”.

“This motion calls on the Senate to censure me for supposedly ‘inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people’,” Senator Anning said.

“However, after putting the immediate blame where it belonged, I looked for contributing causes. I said: ‘The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program that allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand’.”

The censure motion will easily pass the Senate with the support of both major parties and sends a strong message of condemnation against Senator Anning but has no practical effect.

The Greens will need the support of Labor and at least four crossbenchers or the Coalition for its suspension to succeed.

Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi, who will not support the censure motion unless the language is changed, said the suspension was “just weaponising the Senate for petty political grievances by far-left fringe dwellers who are notable only for their hypocrisy”.

Victorian independent senator Derryn Hinch and United Australia Party senator Brian Burston will back the censure but did not think the suspension was constitutional.

Centre Alliance senators Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will formalise their position on the suspension tomorrow.

“My personal view is that Senator Anning has brought the office of senator into disrepute and it is important that we take a strong stance to call out his extreme, unapologetic and ignorant views,” Senator Griff said.