Australian politicians criticised a Queensland senator for his reference to the “final solution” in his maiden speech in parliament on Tuesday, August 14.
Senator Fraser Anning of the Katter’s Australia Party said Australia should restrict immigrants from the “third world” and that a national vote to ban Muslim migration would be the “final solution to the immigration problem.”
“The record of Muslims who have already come to this country in terms of rates of crime, welfare dependency and terrorism are the worst of any migrant and vastly exceed another immigrant group,” Anning said. “We have black African Muslim gangs terrorising Melbourne, we have Isis-sympathising Muslims trying to go overseas to try and fight for Isis and while all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims. So why would anyone want to bring more of them here?”
His comments drew wide condemnation from his colleagues, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten shaking hands on Wednesday in a rare display of solidarity, following a round of speeches highlighting the “racism” and “prejudice” in Fraser’s speech. Pauline Hanson, leader of Fraser’s former party One Nation, was “appalled” by his comments and said she was offended by the description of his remarks as being like “Pauline Hanson on steroids.”
Fraser refused to apologise and told ten daily he was unaware the term “final solution” was used by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Credit: Australian Parliament House via Storyful
