Australian senator uses Nazi phrase to call for ban on Muslim immigrants
Fraser Anning condemned across the political spectrum over ‘final solution’ demand
Australian politicians from across the spectrum have united to condemn a senator who employed Nazi terminology to call for a ban on Muslim immigrants.
Queensland senator Fraser Anning used his maiden speech in the upper chamber of the Australian Parliament, in Canberra, to accuse Muslim Australians of crime, welfare dependency and complicity in terrorism.
The reasons for ending all further Muslim immigration “are both compelling and self-evident”, Anning said, before claiming that a national referendum on the “problem” was the “final solution”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
His choice of the phrase “final solution” - used by Nazi high command during the Holocaust as a euphemism for the mass extermination of Jews - provoked instant and widespread condemnation, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that Anning’s views were “appalling” and that his language was a “shocking insult” to the more than six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten called Anning’s speech “repugnant and disgraceful”, while independent senator Derryn Hinch labelled it “vomitous poison”.
Anning is the first and only senator for the far-right Katter’s Australian Party, founded in 2011 by Bob Katter, the party’s sole MP.
The embattled Queensland representative was originally elected as a replacement for a senator from Pauline Hanson’s nationalist One Nation party, but chose to sit as an independent before switching his allegiance to Katter in June this year.
Hanson has warned previously that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Muslims”, but has united with mainstream politicians to condemn Anning’s rhetoric, which she compared to that of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
Anning claims he did not intentionally invoke Nazi Germany. “I hadn't even thought about it,” he told radio station 2GB.
The senator also drew criticism for suggesting that Australians could return to the “White Australia” policy, which placed heavy restrictions on non-European immigration until the late 1960s.
Penny Wong, Senate leader of the Australian Labor Party, said that the policy had been “rightly consigned… to the dustbin of history”.
Meanwhile, rival party leader Katter said he stood by Anning’s speech “1,000%”.
“We do not want people coming in from the Middle East or North Africa unless they’re the persecuted minorities,” he said, describing Anning’s address as “solid gold”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Band Aid 40: time to change the tune?
In the Spotlight Band Aid's massively popular 1984 hit raised around £8m for famine relief in Ethiopia and the charity has generated over £140m in total
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Starmer vs the farmers: who will win?
Today's Big Question As farmers and rural groups descend on Westminster to protest at tax changes, parallels have been drawn with the miners' strike 40 years ago
By The Week UK Published
-
How secure are royal palaces?
The Explainer Royal family's safety is back in the spotlight after the latest security breach at Windsor
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Putin's fixation with shamans
Under the Radar Secretive Russian leader, said to be fascinated with occult and pagan rituals, allegedly asked for blessing over nuclear weapons
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Chimpanzees are dying of human diseases
Under the radar Great apes are vulnerable to human pathogens thanks to genetic similarity, increased contact and no immunity
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 24 February - 1 March
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will mounting discontent affect Iran election?
Today's Big Question Low turnout is expected in poll seen as crucial test for Tehran's leadership
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Sweden clears final NATO hurdle with Hungary vote
Speed Read Hungary's parliament overwhelmingly approved Sweden's accession to NATO
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published