Labor’s acting leader, Tanya Plibersek, says PM should speak out against Queensland senator

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Queensland senator Fraser Anning will charge taxpayers for his return flights to Melbourne to attend a rally involving far-right extremists and film a video alongside its leaders, the convicted criminals Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson.

The senator defended his attendance at the rally, telling the New Daily: “It’s official business. I am a senator. I didn’t go there for a picnic.”

He later released a statement on Sunday claiming it was not a far-right event: “I didn’t see any people there who appeared to be radicals.

“The truth is that attempts to claim that this rally was a ‘far right’ event appear to be leftwing media attempts to distract attention from the purpose of the protest – African gang violence.

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“The only people who were doing Nazi salutes were the far-left extremists 100m away who came to try to disrupt a peaceful rally.”

In the videos, Anning stands with Cottrell, poses for photos and makes inflammatory remarks about migration.

The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, said the senator’s attendance at the rally was “disgusting”.

“I think the vast majority of Australians would be disgusted to think their taxes are paying for an Australian senator to attend an event which seeks to divide, not unite our country,” she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.



Anning now sits as an independent after being booted from Katter’s Australian party following his defection from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

The senator claimed his interstate trip was justified because, he claims, Queensland was experiencing similar issues with crime gangs.

While Morrison criticised the “ugly racial protests” on Twitter on Sunday, he was quiet on Anning’s attendance.

Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) [1/2] I thank Vic police for their efforts dealing with the ugly racial protests we saw in St Kilda yesterday. Intolerance does not make Australia stronger.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, condemned the event on Twitter but was also silent on Anning.

However, the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, told reporters: “Fraser Anning’s appearance was unacceptable and he should not have participated in this divisive event.”

He also labelled the use of the Nazi salute as “particularly repugnant and abhorrent”.

Frydenberg said it was up to the independent parliamentary entitlements authority as to whether it was an official parliamentary duty expense.

Plibersek has called on Morrison to distance the government from Anning.

“What really concerns me is that this is a fellow that the government has to continue to rely on to get measures through the Senate,” Plibersek said. “He has voted with the government about 90% of the time.

“We know what happens when numbers are tight. People make demands in return for their support. I would hate to think that this government owed Fraser Anning anything for the votes that he has provided them in the Senate.”

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Cottrell and Erikson claim the rally was a response to recent incidents in which youths have mugged people along the bay.

Several hundred people attended two rallies, the first held by anti-racism campaigners ahead of the rightwing event.

One person at the protest was arrested for possessing drugs, another for breaching bail and a third for carrying weapons – large fishing sinkers – at the duelling rallies.

The independent Wentworth MP, Kerryn Phelps, said the rally should be called out for being a “demonstration by a neo-Nazi group”.

“I don’t believe it has any place in Australian society,” Phelps told the ABC on Sunday. “We have a harmonious, multicultural community and I think Australians want to keep it that way and these kinds of demonstrations are not what I would like to be seeing in Australia.”

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the government should refuse to take Anning’s vote after his involvement in the event.

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The Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson said the group were racists who did not understand Australia or what it stood for.

Tim Wilson MP (@TimWilsonMP) I always loathe to validate racist bullies with attention, but the ugly protests in St Kilda yesterday should be condemned. Australia is a country for everyone who shares our commitment to a pluralistic liberal democracy anchored in mutual respect. 1/2

• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report