William Fraser Anning (born 14 October 1949) is an Australian former politician who was a senator for Queensland from November 2017[4] to June 2019. Anning is known for holding far-right, nativist, and anti-Muslim views,[5][6] and has been criticised for his use of the Nazi euphemism for the Holocaust, when he proposed a plebiscite to be the "Final Solution" to "the immigration problem" in his maiden speech. Anning also generated controversy for his statements shortly after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, in which he blamed the attacks on "the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate".[7][8]
Anning was elected to the Senate after a special recount was triggered by the removal of One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts. Anning chose not to join One Nation in the Senate, sitting instead as an independent until June 2018, when he joined Katter's Australian Party (KAP) as its first senator. Anning was expelled by KAP in October 2018 for his views on race and immigration.[9] Anning sat again as an independent, until registration of Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party was granted in April 2019. He failed to get re-elected to the Senate in the 2019 federal election, when standing under his own party's banner.
White Rose Society and ABC News have detailed the white supremacist links of some of Anning's closest advisers. His companions have included convicted criminals such as Neil Erikson and members of the militant white supremacist group True Blue Crew, whose members and supporters have been linked to right-wing terrorism.[10]
Anning was sought by creditors over unpaid debts in late 2019,[11] and declared bankrupt on 16 March 2020.[12]
Early life and family history
Anning grew up in north-west Queensland on Wetherby Station, one of the Anning family's pastoral properties near the town of Richmond. He is a direct descendant of Charles Cumming Stone Anning, a pastoral squatter who immigrated to the Australian colonies in the mid-19th century to acquire landholdings. Charles and several of his sons established the Reedy Springs property north of Hughenden in 1862, and soon expanded their claims by forming the nearby properties of Chudleigh Park, Mount Sturgeon, Charlotte Plains and Cargoon.[13] In response to the spearing of their cattle by Aboriginal Australians, the Annings would ride out with firearms, attack Aboriginal campsites and capture young boys who survived in order to use them as labour on their cattle and sheep stations.[14] The Annings at times also requested the services of the local Native Police paramilitary unit to assist in clearing "blacks" off their runs.[15]Frank Hann, another pastoralist in the region who regularly participated in extrajudicial punitive raids on Aboriginals, described in his diary in 1874 that he saw "Anning [coming] back from hunting blacks".[16]
Fraser Anning's grandfather Francis "Frank" Albert Anning spent much of his time at Reedy Springs but also bought into further properties such as Wollogorang, Savannah Station and Compton Downs. One of Frank's sons was W. H. (Harry) Anning who took up the Wetherby property[17] and whose wife gave birth to Fraser Anning in October 1949.[18]
On 22 March 2018 Anning announced that he would support the Turnbull Government's proposed company tax cuts.[22][23]
Anning introduced a private members' bill calling for less stringent import laws for mace, pepper spray and tasers, to "allow women to defend themselves". It was supported by David Leyonhjelm, Peter Georgiou, Cory Bernardi and Brian Burston, but rejected by both major parties and the Greens.[24]
In 2018 Anning described the perpetrators of attacks on South African farms as "subhuman",[25] also claiming that a state-orchestrated "genocide" was underway in South Africa.[26]
Anning stated in a Senate speech that he believed Safe Schools was "sexually deviant propaganda" and undermined "the white family". He criticised the curriculum as "gender fluidity garbage".[27]
In January 2019 he began the process with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to register a new political party, called "Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party" with a registered abbreviation of "The Conservative Nationals".[32] After the proposal to register that abbreviation was withdrawn, the AEC granted formal registration on 2 April 2019.[33]
In May 2019 Anning was criticised for a series of anti-Muslim Facebook posts, including one which co-opted an image of a Muslim family taken in 2005 when their 19-month-old daughter Rahma went missing from their Sydney Home, along with the words "If you want a Muslim for a neighbour, just vote Labor". Rahma has never been found.[34]
Zack Newton, an electoral officer on Senator Anning's staff, was reported by the ABC as saying in early April 2019 that it was "Amusing to think I went from shitposting at home and now I'm shitposting in parliament, but here I am lmao".[35]
Anning was third on the One Nation senate ticket in Queensland at the 2016 federal election. He gained just 19 below-the-line first-preference votes under the optional preferential voting system.[37] Due to its high statewide count, One Nation elected two senators in Queensland at the 2016 election – party leader Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts. In October 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, the Court of Disputed Returns ruled Roberts was ineligible to be elected to the Senate due to his failure to renounce his British citizenship.[38] The following month, on 10 November, Anning was declared elected in place of Roberts following a special recount.[39] Prior to his elevation to the Senate, he was facing bankruptcy legal action due to money owed to the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. This could have made him ineligible to sit in parliament, but the case was withdrawn.[4]
Upon his swearing in to the Senate on 13 November 2017, Anning was vouched for (a parliamentary custom indicating that the new member is who he claims to be)[40] by two crossbenchers from other parties: Cory Bernardi (Australian Conservatives) and David Leyonhjelm (Liberal Democrats).[41] Later on the same day, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson issued a media release saying that Anning had "abandoned" the party to sit as an independent "until something else comes along".[42] Anning responded that "she [Hanson] made my position pretty much untenable with her conditions."[43] On 16 November, it was reported that neither Anning nor Hanson had formally made their intentions clear to the Senate chamber regarding his party status, and he therefore remained a One Nation senator in the eyes of the Senate. It was also unclear whether Hanson intended to expel Anning solely from the parliamentary group or the wider organisational party as well.[44] On 15 January 2018, Anning advised the Senate President that he would henceforth sit as an independent, and a month later he formed a voting bloc with Bernardi and Leyonhjelm.[45][46] On 4 June 2018 Anning joined Katter's Australian Party, becoming the party's first senator.[47]
His speech included a reference to a "final solution"—the phrase used by the Nazi Party to refer to the preparation and execution of the Holocaust,[50] when he said "The final solution to the immigration problem is, of course, a popular vote."[51] Anning claimed that his comments were taken out of context, that he had used the phrase to introduce the last of six policies he proposed about immigration. His comments were condemned across the Parliament, including by the Labor Party, the Liberals, the Nationals, the Greens, Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the Centre Alliance, among other crossbenchers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. He refused to apologise for his comments.[52] Pauline Hanson said she was appalled by Anning's comments and described them as "straight from Goebbels' handbook".[53] However, Anning's party leader Bob Katter described it as "a magnificent speech, solid gold" and said he "1000 percent supports" Anning.[54] However, Anning was expelled from Katter's Australia Party two months later for distinguishing between "European" and "Non-European" migration in legislation, as this was viewed by the party as bigotry against Sikhs and Pacific Islanders.[55]
Christchurch mosque shootings and egg incident
Anning was sharply criticised for his comments following the Christchurch mosque shootings, which occurred in New Zealand on 15 March 2019, during which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed. He claimed that immigration of "Muslim fanatics" led to the attacks, and that "while Muslims may have been victims today, usually they are the perpetrators". Anning also stated that the massacre "highlights...the growing fear within our community...of the increasing Muslim presence."[56][57] The comments received international attention and were overwhelmingly criticised as being insensitive and racist, and sympathetic to the views of the perpetrator. As of 18 March 2019, a petition calling for his expulsion from the Australian parliament had amassed 1.2million signatures, although the ability for the Senate to expel a senator was removed with the passage of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 into law.[58][59]
On 16 March, Anning was struck by an egg on the back of his head by 17-year-old William "Egg Boy" Connolly while speaking to media and his supporters in an industrial warehouse/event space in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin. Anning subsequently slapped Connolly twice in the face. Connolly was then tackled by several of Anning's supporters, including United Patriots Front leader Neil Erikson, one of whom held Connolly in a choke hold until police arrived and took the teenager away. Connolly was taken into custody by police, but was released without charge, while they launched an investigation into the violence.[60]
On the day following the incident, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison criticised Anning, arguing that "the full force of the law" should be applied to the senator.[61] A fundraiser was started to support Connolly's legal fees and "to buy more eggs", claiming to have raised over $10,000 in under 24 hours.[62] Connolly said he would give the money raised to the victims' families.[63] The money was held by a law firm acting without fee and on 27 May, Connolly announced that a total of $99,922 had been donated to two funds providing for the victims of the Christchurch shooting.[64]
The police announced the completion of their investigation three weeks after the incident, saying that Anning would not be charged as his actions had been in self-defence, and that Connolly had received an official caution. However, a man who allegedly kicked Connolly several times while he was held down was charged with assault.[65]
On 11 January 2019, it was announced that Anning would form a party named Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party.[66] On 2 April 2019, the party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission.[33][67] Anning said he would "be announcing candidates across most lower house seats" and "running a Senate team in every state" for the 2019 election.[68] Two parties, the Australian Conservatives and The Nationals objected to the name, arguing it was too similar to theirs and would cause confusion for voters. However, the AEC said the use of "Fraser" and "Anning" in the party's name was "sufficient to aurally and visually distinguish the party's name and abbreviation from other names and abbreviations on the ballot paper". There were similar objections to the request to adopt the abbreviation "The Conservative Nationals". Registration was only granted following the withdrawal of that proposal.[33]
On 26 April 2019, during the 2019 Federal Election campaign, Anning used the site of the 2005 Cronulla race riots in Sydney to announce his party's candidates for New South Wales. A 19-year-old supporter of Anning was arrested and charged with assault and intimidation after being involved in an altercation with members of the media immediately after the announcement, allegedly punching a photographer and abusing a journalist. Video footage shows the young man repeatedly punching the photographer, who sustained injury.[69][70] The assailant was a member of the militant white supremacist group True Blue Crew, which has been linked to terrorism.[10]
The party was deregistered on 23 September 2020.[74]
Bankruptcy and further developments
In Anning's absence, the Federal Court of Australia handed down an order winding up his estate on 16 March 2020, as part of an ongoing dispute with Adelaide and Bendigo Bank, which was chasing a debt of $185,000 related to Mr Anning's investment in a failed agribusiness scheme. The date of his bankruptcy was set to 15 July 2019.[75] As of 2019, sources close to Anning said he was visiting family in the United States and had not said when he will return to Australia.[76] He was continuing to post on a Facebook page named Fraser Anning-Former Senator.[77]
In November 2020, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) brought legal action against Anning, seeking a penalty of up to $26,640 for allegedly failing to lodge required financial returns for the 2018-19 financial year. On 16 February 2021, the AEC dropped the case because they were unable to locate Anning in Australia despite several attempts to contact him, with the AEC believing him to be overseas.[78]
He and his wife, Fiona, have two daughters.[80] He is a Catholic, but not a regular churchgoer.[81]
Notes
↑ The party was commonly called the “Conservative National Party”.[1] The official name recognised by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) was titled: “Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party”. However, both the name and the abbreviated name (“Conservative National Party”) proposed were objected to by the National Party and its New South Walesbranch, as well as the Australian Conservatives party.[2]
Related Research Articles
Pauline Lee Hanson is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian Senate since the 2016 Federal Election.
Pauline Hanson's One Nation, also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a right-wing populist political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson.
The Libertarian Party, formerly known as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is an Australian political party founded in Canberra in 2001. The party espouses smaller government and supports policies that are based on classical liberal, libertarian principles, such as lower taxes, opposing restrictions on civil liberties, decentralisation, utilising nuclear energy, and the relaxation of smoking laws.
Cory Bernardi is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party he founded in 2017 but disbanded in 2019. He is a former member of the Liberal Party of Australia, having represented the party in the Senate from 2006 to 2017. Bernardi is a conservative Catholic Christian and author of The Conservative Revolution.
The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Australia and Coalition partner the National Party of Australia, led by Warren Truss, defeated the incumbent centre-left Labor Party government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a landslide. It was also the third time in history that a party won 90 or more seats at an Australian election. Labor had been in government for six years since being elected in the 2007 election. This election marked the end of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor government and the start of the 9 year long Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Liberal-National Coalition government. Abbott was sworn in by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, as Australia's new Prime Minister on 18 September 2013, along with the Abbott Ministry. The 44th Parliament of Australia opened on 12 November 2013, with the members of the House of Representatives and territory senators sworn in. The state senators were sworn in by the next Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on 7 July 2014, with their six-year terms commencing on 1 July.
Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for a synthesis of agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission in 2011.
David Ean Leyonhjelm is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales, representing the Liberal Democratic Party from 2014 to 2019. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election, he took office on 1 July 2014, and was re-elected in the 2016 full Senate election. He resigned from the Senate in March 2019 to stand for the Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election, but failed to be elected. Before being elected to federal parliament, Leyonhjelm worked as a veterinarian and then as an agribusiness consultant. He also writes columns for several Australian publications, with a concentration on rural issues.
The Minor Party Alliance (MPA) is a collaborative undertaking of small Australian political parties, created by Glenn Druery's "Independent Liaison" business, which assists in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between minor parties in Australia. The aim of the Alliance is the election of Alliance candidates to Australian upper houses based upon the accumulation of their primary votes and the registered "above-the-line" party preferences to reach an electoral quota. For the Australian Senate, the quota for a half-Senate election in each State is normally 14.3%. The MPA effectively aims to "game" the electoral system, an act it believes to be justified, based upon their perception that the Australian electoral system is unfair and heavily biased against minor parties.
The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.
Yellow Vest Australia (YVA), until 9 April 2019 known as the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), was a minor right-wing to far-right political party in Australia. The party was founded by members of the Q Society and has been described as the political wing of Q Society. The leader was Debbie Robinson (President), who was also national president of the Q Society. On 4 September 2020, the Australian Electoral Commission removed the Yellow Vest Australia from the registered political party list.
The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolution federal election. All 151 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate were up for election.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate following the 2016 Australian federal election held on 2 July 2016. The election was held as a consequence of a double dissolution in which both houses of parliament were dissolved. Ordinarily, only half of the senators terms end at each election. In this case, all 76 senators were elected. At the first sitting following the election, half of the senators representing each of the six states of Australia were allocated six-year terms to end on 30 June 2022, with the remainder allocated three-year terms to end on 30 June 2019. The terms of senators from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory end on the day of the next federal election.
The 2016 Australian federal election in the Senate was part of a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
Brian Burston is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 2016 to 2019, originally representing One Nation. After falling out with party leader Pauline Hanson over company tax cuts, Burston left One Nation and joined businessman Clive Palmer's newly relaunched United Australia Party. Palmer announced Burston as the new parliamentary leader of the party on 18 June 2018, but Burston failed to win re-election at the 2019 federal election.
A Muslim immigration ban is a ban, either absolute or from specific nations, on the immigration of Muslims to a specific nation.
The Australian Conservatives was formed in July 2016 as a conservative political activist group in Australia and as a political party in February 2017. It was led by Cory Bernardi, who had been elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party, but resigned citing disagreements with the Liberal/National Coalition, its policies and leadership under Malcolm Turnbull.
This is a list of candidates for the 2019 Australian federal election, held on 18 May 2019.
Neil Erikson is an Australian far-right extremist and self-proclaimed neo-Nazi.
Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party, also known as Conservative National Party or simply the Conservative Nationals, was a far-right nationalist political party in Australia founded by Fraser Anning in April 2019, when he was a senator for Queensland. Anning had previously been a senator for One Nation and Katter's Australian Party, and sat as an independent before founding the new party. The party contested the 2019 federal election, but failed to win a seat.
Far-right politics in Australia describes authoritarian ideologies, including fascism and White supremacy as they manifest in Australia.
↑ Cheok, Adrian David (2021). POPULISM AND ECONOMIC NATIONALISM Australia's First Populist Politician, Senator Fraser Anning. Germany. ISBN978-6204191072.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Australia
Australian Army Reserve 
Category 
