Nationals distance themselves from ‘rogue’ George Christensen

The Nationals have moved en masse to distance themselves from Covid-19 comments made by George Christensen.

The Nationals have moved en masse to distance themselves from comments made by Dawson MP George Christensen. Picture: Gary Ramage

The Nationals have moved en masse to distance themselves from comments made by George Christensen, with former leader Michael McCormack describing his anti-Covid-19 position as “rogue” and party whip Damian Drum saying the party made it known he was isolated on the issue.

The Dawson MP drew serious criticism from across the political spectrum after he used a speech in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to espouse Covid conspiracy theories, claiming that masks and lockdowns didn’t work, and labelling health workers “dictatorial medical bureaucrats”.

Mr Drum said the Nationals had voted on a motion to distance themselves from the north Queensland MP’s comments, saying it had the effect of letting Mr Christensen know – with the possible exception of Senator Matt Canavan – that he was “on his own”.

“My job is to support my people. I am not going to support that position,” Mr Drum told The Australian.

Mr McCormack said that, as public leaders, parliamentarians had “rights and responsibilities” to citizens, particularly during the pandemic when people were looking to their state and federal MPs for leadership.

“I don’t agree with the member for Dawson. I think it was right and appropriate what happened in parliament yesterday. Hopefully, George will move on,” Mr McCormack said.

Even with Mr Christensen leaving politics at the next election, Mr McCormack said that didn’t give him “carte blanche to go freelancing” on fringe policy issues.

“Free speech comes with the responsibility not to be a fearmonger,” he said.

In a surprising move on Tuesday afternoon, acting leader of the house Christian Porter allowed Labor to move a motion to condemn Mr Christensen.

Nationals MP Anne Webster said she would be raising the comments with her colleague on Wednesday afternoon.

“I don’t agree with George. This debate does impact people’s lives, particularly when political leaders share concepts and ideas that cause instability,” Dr Webster told The Australian.

Senator Bridget McKenzie said the comments weren’t “helpful”, while Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said he condemned his backbencher’s comments. However, he asserted there was little he could do outside of “muzzling him”.

“I’ve had conversations but that doesn’t mean he’s the slave of anybody,” Mr Joyce told ABC radio. “I’m open to ideas of how we stop him from saying things he wants to say.”

While he disagreed with his views on face masks, Senator Canavan said the costs of lockdown were “enormous”, which he added was the “most costly policy we have ever implemented at peacetime”.

“In my experience, the more you censor a view, the more you play into the hands of those that are spreading conspiracy theories,” Senator Canavan told the ABC.

“We need to be careful because as soon as you do that, conspiracy theorists will turn around and say ‘see, we told you they won’t even let us speak.’”

But Lyne MP David Gillespie also said he’d spoken to his colleague, and had tried to explain to him the benefits of face masks.

“I had to respectfully disagree with George about the mask data. There is so much information out there on the internet,” he told ABC’s Afternoon Agenda.

“It depends on where you read analysis and who it is. I can see where his frustration and a lot of people are frustrated, I acknowledge that, but masks help control the spread.”