In the wake of an attack on two New Zealand mosques, which left 50 dead, an Australian politician quite literally found an egg on his face for making disparaging remarks regarding immigration policies in New Zealand.
Queensland, Australia senator, Fraser Anning, made comments following the shooting on Twitter and in public, placing the blame of the attacks on Muslims, stating on Twitter:
“Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?”
He also made a public claim, blaming the attacks on immigration into the country, in a statement saying:
“The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”
Anning was in Melbourne speaking to reporters this past Sunday when 17-year-old, Will Connolly walked up to him, pulled up his phone to record and smashed an egg on the senator’s head.
The senator responded by turning to the teen and hitting him multiple times before the crowd broke the two up.
Connolly was arrested but ultimately released after details were taken regarding the incident. Police stated that they were investigating the incident “in its entirety” including the actions of the senator and others at the scene.
After Connolly’s release, he tweeted: “Don’t egg politicians. You get tackled by 30 bogans at the same time. I learnt the hard way.”
He also added: “This was the moment I felt so proud to exist as a human being. Let me inform all you guys, Muslims are not terrorists and terrorism has no religion. All those who consider Muslims a terrorist community have empty heads like Anning.”
The boy, later dubbed “egg boy” then had a GoFundMe account set up in his name, with proceeds going to the mosque shooting victims. As of Monday evening, more than 27,000 people have donated $55,000 to the page, according to an article in The Hill.
Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison took to Twitter, condemning the senator’s remarks, saying:
“Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian Parliament.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Anning’s run into controversy regarding remarks. In a 2018 speech before the Australian parliament he said:
“The final solution to the immigration problem, of course, is a popular vote,” a term that summons the infamous term used by Nazi Leaders regarding the Holocaust, according to an NPR article from August 2008.
That very same article quoted Anning as referring to this new ideal as a “White Australia,” and lamented the demise of “[Australia’s] predominantly European identity.”
“Diversity should be managed to remain compatible with social cohesion and national identity,” he later said. “We as a nation are entitled to insist that those who are allowed to come here predominantly reflect the historic European-Christian composition of Australian society.”
In the same speech, he later added: “While all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims, so why would anyone want to bring more of them here?”
Regarding the egging incident, Morrison stated that Anning should feel “the full force of the law” for assaulting Connolly.
On Sunday, Anning refused to apologize, saying, “I don’t regret anything I do. I defended myself, that’s what Australians do, usually, they defend themselves,” according to the New Zealand Herald.
Anning added: “He got a slap across the face which is what his mother should have given him a long time ago because he’s been misbehaving badly.”
Richard Foltz
Reporter