Australian senators censure colleague for comments made about Muslims after Christchurch shootings

The right-wing Australian senator who said New Zealand's immigration policies were to blame for last month's shootings at mosques in Christchurch was formally censured by his colleagues Wednesday.

At least 50 people were killed in the March 15 attack, allegedly carried out by an Australian white supremacist. Sen. Fraser Anning quickly released a statement saying the "real cause of the bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place." He was swiftly criticized by the prime ministers of New Zealand and Australia, as well as other politicians.

Government Senate Leader Mathias Cormann on Wednesday said Anning's comments were "ugly and divisive" and "dangerous and unacceptable from anyone, let alone a member of this place," while Mehreen Faruqi of the Greens stated it's "terrifying that right-wing extremist groups have found a mouthpiece in federal Parliament." Once a member of the anti-Muslim One Nation party, Anning is now an independent, and the Parliament's two One Nation senators abstained from the censure vote, The Associated Press reports. Anning said the censure vote violated his free speech rights, and was "an exercise in left-wing virtue signaling of the worst kind."

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