The right-wing Australian senator who blamed Muslims after a mosque was attacked in New Zealand has lost his re-election bid.
Fraser Anning made international headlines in March after he released a statement that contained one sentence condemning the massacre at the Christchurch Mosque in New Zealand, which killed 50 worshippers, and several paragraphs attacking Muslims for radical Islam.
“I am utterly opposed to any form of violence within our community, and I totally condemn the actions of the gunman,” Anning said, as previously reported by The Daily Wire. “However, whilst this kind of violent vigilantism can never be justified, what it highlights is the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence.”
Anning went on to claim “left-wing politicians and media” will target gun laws (which they did) while maintaining that New Zealand’s immigration policies – which allowed “Muslim fanatics” into the country, he said – was what actually caused the massacre.
“Let us be clear, while Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators,” Anning said. “World-wide, Muslims are killing people in the name of their faith on an industrial scale.”
He concluded by saying, “just because the followers of this savage belief were not the killers in this instance, does not make them blameless.”
Anning was quickly condemned by politicians in Australia, including the current prime minister and a former prime minister.
“He is a disgrace to the Senate and what is worse, by spreading hatred and turning Australians against each other, he is doing exactly what the terrorists want,” said former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The Australian senate voted to censure Anning for his comments.
Following Anning’s comments, a 17-year-old protester cracked a head on the senator’s head as he gave a press conference just days after he released his statement. The Daily Wire reported at the time that Anning then punched the protester in the face.
After Saturday’s elections in Australia, Anning will no longer have a place in parliament, Australia’s SBS News reported. An Australian Broadcasting Corporation pundit commented on Anning’s loss by saying, “Fraser Anning goes back to where he came from… he won’t be in the Parliament.”
Though the center-left Labor party lost to the center-right Liberal National coalition, Anning’s loss was viewed as “one of the great outcomes of this election,” according to North Sydney Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman.
“There have been a lot of people concerned about the rise in extremism here and around the world. And what we’ve tonight is Australians reject the type of extremism Fraser Anning was offering,” he said. “Frankly the position he took on issues of race were simply reprehensible and it had no place in the Australian Parliament and the Australian people appeared to have agreed with that.”
Anning had created his own political party in April – after his mosque statement – called “Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party.” On Saturday, the party received 53,875 first preference votes in Australia’s House of Representatives, but that was not enough to win a single seat.
If you would like to watch Anning get egged, you can view the video below: