A FAR-RIGHT Australian senator had to be restrained by security officials after punching a young man who egged him over comments he made about the terror attack in New Zealand.
Queensland Senator Fraser Anning drew international condemnation for blaming the mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques on immigration.
Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more were injured in the attack yesterday.
Australian-born Brenton Tarrant (28) filmed himself carrying out the horrific attack. He made a white power gesture as he appeared in court today charged with murder.
An unnamed young man threw an egg at Anning during a press conference in Melbourne today, prompting the senator to hit him in the face before being stopped by what appeared to be a security guard.
In a statement issued yesterday, Anning said the terror attack was the result of Muslim immigration into New Zealand.
“As always, left-wing politicians and the media will rush to claim that the causes of today’s shootings lie with gun laws or those who hold nationalist views, but this is all cliched nonsense,” Anning said.
He added that “the real cause of bloodshed” is the country’s immigration programme.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Anning’s comments as “disgusting” and announced that a bipartisan motion of censure would be launched.
The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, rightwing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting.
“Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian parliament,” Morrison said.
Anning was elected in 2017 by a fluke of Australia’s proportional voting system, having received only 19 first preference votes. He is unlikely to be reelected when Australians go to the polls in a vote expected this May.
An online petition calling for Anning’s expulsion from parliament had received more than 400,000 signatures at the time of publication.
Contains reporting from © AFP 2019
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