‘Swamp creature’ exit: Babet to quit politics after praising Kanye West’s Heil Hitler track, slamming ‘mentally ill’ left

Ralph Babet says he’ll leave politics in 2028 to avoid becoming a ‘swamp creature’ – but not before praising Kanye West’s Heil Hitler song and unleashing a tirade against left-wing ‘turds’.

Clive Palmer's $100m man, Ralph Babet, in the Senate. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

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United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet says he’ll quit politics in 2028 to avoid becoming a “swamp creature” – but not before unleashing a late-night ­tirade in which he endorsed Kanye West’s Heil Hitler track and said he’d rather associate with neo-Nazis than “mentally ill” left-wing Australians.

The Victorian senator, who has a history of incendiary social media posts, told his followers in an Instagram story that the American rapper’s song Heil Hitler was his favourite of the week.

“All I said was it was a good song, right?” Senator Babet said.

“I like Kanye West. He’s a great artist … If someone else doesn’t like what he puts out, don’t buy it. Don’t listen to it. But don’t you f..king dare tell me what I can and can’t listen to.”

He rejected accusations of anti-Semitism and said attempts to label him a Nazi were “f..king bullshit”.

“If they’re going to try and associate me with being a Nazi – a brown immigrant from Africa – that’s f..king bullshit. You know it. I know it,” he said.

Senator Ralph Babet on Instagram: Supplied

Senator Ralph Babet on Instagram: Supplied

West, who also goes by the name “Ye”, became one of the most influential musicians of his generation, until he made no secret of his admiration for Adolf Hitler in a series of social media posts on Elon Musk’s X platform.

The multi-award winning artist released a video for Heil Hitler on his X account last week and received more than 8½ million views from his 33 million loyal ­followers.

Senator Babet also defended a separate Instagram post in which he said he would “rather hang out” with members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network than with the “baby-killing, murdering, leftists”.

Asked to clarify the comment, he claimed it was made “tongue in cheek” but said he still stood by the sentiment. “There’s also truth to that,” he said. “Do you think I would want to hang out with baby-killing, murdering, leftists, absolute backwards, mentally ill, retarded, left-wing turds?”

In the same breath, he claimed he wouldn’t associate with the NSN either: “They want to f..king deport me … because I’m brown. So obviously it’s tongue in cheek. I wouldn’t hang out with them, and they wouldn’t hang out with me, either.”

He went on to describe Australian progressive voters as “Greens voters that are mentally ill” and accused them of wanting to “tear down the family”, “do gender mutilating surgery on children” and “put kids on ­puberty blockers”.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori. Picture: Getty

When asked what he would say to Jewish Australians offended by his posts, Senator Babet refused to apologise. “I can listen to whatever music I like,” he said.

“If they want to be offended because Kanye West released a song, don’t download the song … But don’t tell me as a grown man what I can and can’t listen to.

“I think it’s a good song and I’m going to be buying his album. Does that make me a Nazi? No, I’m not a Nazi. I just like his music.”

Senator Babet also revealed he was likely to quit politics after his first term in the Senate ends in 2028. “I have no desire to become a career politician,” he said. “I don’t want to become one of those swamp creatures, one of those swamp dwellers. I want to do my one term and I want to go.”

The comments have triggered furious condemnation from ­Australian Jewish leaders, who ­accused the Victorian senator of glorifying Hitler and anti-Semitism.

Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dvir Abramovich, who successfully campaigned to prevent Ye from entering Australia, said Senator Babet’s comments amounted to a public meltdown of moral responsibility.

Kanye West seen leaving Michiko Sushino restaurant with daughter North West in London, England. (Picture: Neil Mockford/GC Images

“When a federal parliamentarian publicly declares that a track titled ‘Heil Hitler’ is his favourite of the week, alarm bells shouldn’t be ringing – they should be deafening,” Dr Abramovich said.

“Hitler is not a meme or a punch­line. His name stands for genocide, mass murder, gas chambers. It is carved into the bones of six million Jews and millions more victims. And now, a senator is casually promoting that name like it’s just another track in a playlist.

“And if that wasn’t stomach-churning enough, this same elected official says he’d rather associate with a neo-Nazi group than with Australians he dis­agrees with.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin questioned why the senator felt the need to publicly express admiration for a song ­titled Heil Hitler, created by an artist widely associated with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

“Senator Babet is trying to position himself as a martyr for free speech merely standing up for the right to listen to the music of his choice. No one denied this right. No one sought to edit his playlist,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“Perhaps the better question is who was he trying to impress in making these observations about his taste in music. These sorts of stunts might get clicks and maybe votes in the US, but our politics and politicians should be better than that.”

President of the Zionist Federation of Australia Jeremy Leibler said Senator Babet’s unhinged comments were offensive and un-Australian. “There is absolutely nothing ‘tongue in cheek’ about a sitting MP endorsing neo-Nazis, glorifying anti-Semitism, and using slurs to attack minorities – it’s a dog whistle,” Mr Leibler said.