‘Attack not about gay vote’

The alleged attacker of Tony Abbott says he was motivated by ‘personal hatred’ of the former PM, not SSM.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott. Picture: AP

Tony Abbott has maintained he was headbutted in Hobart ­because of his opposition to same-sex marriage, despite his alleged attacker arguing he was motivated by his “personal hatred” towards the former prime minister.

Mr Abbott said the incident highlighted the “intolerance” and the “ugliness” of the Yes camp as he urged people to vote No in the government’s postal survey, with advocates for gay marriage condemning the attack and saying it was unrelated to their campaign.

The former prime minister was not accompanied by security at the time and yesterday clarified he would not seek protection by the Australian Federal Police.

Malcolm Turnbull, who called Mr Abbott soon after learning of the assault, yesterday labelled it a “disgraceful incident” but argued that the majority of Australians were approaching the postal survey with “great ­respect”.

“Any violence coming into our political life is absolutely to be condemned,” the Prime Minister told Melbourne radio 3AW.

“This is one of a relatively small number of incidents but any one is one too many.”

The Attorney-General George Brandis rejected any link between the incident and the Yes campaign. “He represented nothing other than the fact that he was a person who was prepared to be ­violent,” Senator Brandis told Sky News. “This was a violent criminal act. Nothing whatsoever to do with the point of view with those of us who favour a Yes vote in the postal survey.”

Same-sex marriage advocate Rodney Croome said he was sympathetic to Mr Abbott but did not agree the incident was “symp­tomatic of the Yes campaign”. He also cautioned the former prime minister not to “apportion blame to people” for the headbutting.

“The godson of Kevin Rudd apparently was attacked in Brisbane because he supports marriage equality,” Mr Croome told Sky News.

Tasmanian Police yesterday charged a 38-year-old with common assault. The man from North ­Hobart was granted bail to ­appear in court on ­October 23.

He later told the Nine Network he was “a little bit too drunk to connect particularly well” and said the attack had nothing to do with same-sex marriage but was instead motivated by his antipathy for Mr Abbott.

The Weekend Australian understands the AFP continually ­assesses whether former PMs or politicians require protection and while Mr Abbott had security after leaving office, that later ceased.

Speaking in Hobart yesterday, Mr Abbott said: “I’m not asking for protection. I think it’s a great thing that politicians mix freely with the people.”

He also clarified that his office contacted the AFP immediately to report the incident — a “few hours” before he spoke to conservative political commentator Andrew Bolt to relay what had happened.

“Then I made a report to the Tasmanian police, as you’d expect,” he said. “Certainly you should never meet an opinion with a headbutt.”