CANBERRA • Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the government will censure a senator over his Islamophobic comments about the Christchurch mosque shootings. Queensland Senator Fraser Anning, a far-right independent politician, tweeted last Friday: "Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?" "I wonder if there will be as much outrage from the left wing when the next Muslim terrorist attack occurs? Most likely silence and talk about 'lone wolf attacks, mental illness and no connection to Islam'," he added. The remarks were yesterday rebuked by Singapore Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Facebook. "The senator's statement is sickening. It is completely unacceptable. And he issued it when people are grieving," he said, adding that "our prayers are with the victims and their families". Mr Morrison said yesterday his coalition government and the opposition Labor party had discussed a bipartisan motion when Parliament returns next month. "I would normally not want to give this any oxygen, but I want to absolutely and completely denounce the statements made by Senator Anning... in his attack on Islamic faith specifically," the Prime Minister said. "These comments are appalling and they're ugly and they have no place in Australia. He should be, frankly, ashamed of himself," said Mr Morrison, who is an evangelical Christian, after visiting Sydney's Lakemba Mosque. Related Story 'Sickening', Islamophobic remarks by Australian senator Fraser Anning after Christchurch attack Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also called Mr Anning's comments "contemptible". "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." Both major parties can go no further than censuring Mr Anning as he is an independent. But amid the controversy, an unidentified young man threw an egg at Mr Anning during a press conference in Melbourne, prompting the senator to hit him in the face repeatedly before being stopped. Australia is grappling with the New Zealand shooter being its citizen, given how far-right groups have been active in Australia for decades. Some experts say that anti-Muslim rhetoric has now been normalised by mainstream right-wing news outlets, many of which are owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch. In recent years, far-right political parties such as Ms Pauline Hanson's One Nation have gained newfound political relevance by pivoting to the issue of Muslim immigration from the Middle East and South Asia. Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Australia's first female Muslim senator, blamed Ms Hanson and Mr Anning for normalising language used to target Muslims. "This is not random. This is the consequence of the Islamophobic and racist hate," Dr Faruqi wrote last Friday in a message on Twitter.<doc-sep>CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian senator had a raw egg cracked over his head and faces censure from his fellow lawmakers after sparking outrage by blaming Muslim immigration for the New Zealand mosque shootings. Sen. Fraser Anning came under blistering criticism over tweets on Friday including one that said, “Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?” ADVERTISEMENT “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 said in a statement. Television cameras caught a 17-year-old boy breaking an egg on Anning’s head and briefly scuffling with the independent senator while he was holding a news conference Saturday in Melbourne. Police said the boy was arrested but was released without charge pending a further investigation. No motive was offered for the egging. The government and opposition party agreed to pass a censure motion against Anning over his stance on the Christchurch shootings when Parliament resumes in April. While such a reprimand is a symbolic gesture, the major parties expect to demonstrate how isolated Anning’s views are among Australia’s 226 federal lawmakers. The major parties’ support ensures the censure motion will be passed by both chambers. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he denounced Anning’s comments. “In his conflation of this horrendous terrorist attack with issues of immigration, in his attack on Islamic faith specifically — these comments are appalling and they’re ugly and they have no place in Australia, in the Australian Parliament,” Morrison said. “He should be, frankly, ashamed of himself.” Bilal Rauf, spokesman for the Australian National Imams Council, the nation’s top Muslim group, likened the senator’s views to the rambling manifesto published online by suspect Brenton Tarrant before the slayings. “When one looks at his statement, it may as well have been an extract from the manifesto of the person that perpetrated these heinous crimes, this act of terrorism in Christchurch,” Rauf said. ADVERTISEMENT Rauf said Anning was unfit for the Senate. Opposition lawmaker Penny Wong accused Anning of attempting to use the tragedy to grab attention ahead of elections in May. Anning only received 19 votes in the last election in 2016. But because of a quirk in the Australian electoral system, he was elevated to the Senate by the anti-immigration, anti-Muslim One Nation party after a court ruled that its senator, Malcolm Roberts, had not been eligible to run for election due to his dual citizenship. Anning later defected from One Nation to another anti-immigration party, then became an independent. Analysts say Anning is unlikely to be re-elected as an independent candidate in May. Anning was widely condemned for his first speech to the Senate in August advocating reviving a white-only immigration policy and using the term “final solution” in calling for a vote on which migrants to admit into the country. Critics accused him of making a veiled reference to the Nazi extermination of Jews. The government also announced on Saturday it had banned right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos from touring the country over his social media response to the Christchurch shootings. Immigration Minister David Coleman said Yiannopoulos’ social media comments are “appalling and foment hatred and division.” Coleman didn’t specify which comments he was referring to. Yiannopoulos said on Facebook that attacks like Christchurch happen because “the establishment panders to and mollycoddles extremist leftism and barbaric, alien religious cultures.” Lawmakers within Australia’s conservative government had been quarreling in recent weeks over whether the firebrand commentator should be allowed to tour Australia this year. /atm Read Next<doc-sep>MELBOURNE (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - Australia’s Senate will rebuke far-right politician Fraser Anning, who blamed Muslims for violence after the New Zealand terror attack that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques. Anning has received widespread condemnation following comments he made that saying cause of New Zealand's worst peace time shooting was letting "Muslim fanatics" migrate to the country. The text of a bipartisan motion, led by Senate leader Mathias Cormann and Senate opposition leader Penny Wong, said Anning seeks “to attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.” The motion will move when the Senate returns in April. The controversial senator has been under fire since his comments on Friday that came just hours after the massacre, including calling Islam “the religious equivalent of fascism.” He was egged by a teenager while speaking to reporters on Saturday. "(Anning's) conflation of this horrendous terrorist attack with issues of immigration, in his attack on Islamic faith specifically, these comments are appalling and they're ugly and they have no place in Australia," Australia's Prime Minister Morrison told journalists on Saturday. Footage of the incident, shared widely on social media, showed Senator Fraser Anning being approached from behind at a political event on Saturday, before having an egg cracked on the back of his head. The footage showed Anning appearing to try to hit the person, before that person was dragged to the ground. Victoria Police released a statement saying the incident was being investigated "in its entirety" and that it involved a 17-year-old boy. Calls to Anning's electoral and parliamentary offices went unanswered on Sunday. Related Story 'Sickening', Islamophobic remarks by Australian senator Fraser Anning after Christchurch attack A GoFundMe campaign had raised more than A$19,000 (S$18,200) for the teenager to cover the cost of legal fees and so he could "buy more eggs" by Sunday and the hashtag #EggBoy was trending on Twitter. Meanwhile, Australia's immigration minister announced on Saturday that controversial conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos would not be allowed to enter Australia following Yiannopoulos describing Islam as a "barbaric" and "alien" religion. "Mr Yiannopoulos' comments on social media regarding the Christchurch terror attack are appalling and foment hatred and division," immigration minister David Coleman said in a statement. Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after 49 people were killed and dozens wounded in mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques.<doc-sep>After 49 people were gunned down in a targeted attack on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, an Australian Senator blamed the killing on increased Muslim immigration. Fraser Anning, an independent senator from Queensland, released a statement that begins with cursory condemnation of the mosque attack and his opposition to any form of violence before citing Muslim extremism to explain the attacks. “I am utterly opposed to any form of violence within our community, and I totally condemn the actions of the gunman,” Anning said. “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.” The senator claimed that while “left-wing politicians and media” would blame gun laws and nationalist views, 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.” Elected in 2017 to represent a rural pocket borough in Queensland, Anning has a history of making provocative comments. Anning was expelled from the far right One Nation party after advocating a “final solution to the immigration problem” and giving a call to end Muslim and non-English-speaking immigration during his maiden speech to the senate in August 2018. Anning also faced widespread condemned for attending a “fascist” really in Melbourne in 2019. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison condemned Anning, saying that “remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, right-wing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting. Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian Parliament.”<doc-sep>
An Australian senator has been blasted for making anti-Muslim comments after the terror attack that killed at least 49 people at two New Zealand mosques. Details of the shooting are still emerging, but a suspect described by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as an "extremist, right-wing" terrorist has been arrested, according to the BBC. Queensland Senator Fraser Anning released a statement Friday that called Islam "the religious equivalent of fascism," blaming immigration policies for the attack. Once again, Fraser Anning has invoked my religion in his cruel, inhumane and theologically unsound rhetoric about Muslim people. This is hate speech and this must be denounced as vile and unhinged. He is not fit to lead. pic.twitter.com/D74O3tnI48 — Eliza Barr (@ElizaJBarr) March 15, 2019 Screenshots of Anning's statement were shared on social media and republished by Australia's News.com.au. In the document, the Queensland senator condemned what he called an act of "violent vigilantism." He then launched into a 300-word tirade against Islam, calling the religion "the violent ideology of a sixth century despot. "The real cause of the bloodshed on New Zealand streets is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place. While Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators. "Just because the followers of this savage belief were not the killers in this instance does not make them blameless," Anning said, before ending the statement with a quote from the Bible. Morrison quickly rebuked the senator on Twitter, writing: "The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, right-wing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting. Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian Parliament." The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, right-wing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting. Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian Parliament. — Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) March 15, 2019 Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull slammed the politician in a series of tweets that called Anning's comments contemptible. "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," Turnbull wrote. Repurposing one of Anning's own tweets ("Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?") former border force chief Roman Quaedvlieg wrote: "Does anyone still dispute the link between [Fraser Anning] and blunt-ugly, revolting, vulgarity?" Anning has made headlines in the past for making statements perceived as racist. In his maiden senate speech last August he used the Nazi-linked term "final solution." He was ousted from Katter's Australian Party after he called for immigration policies that favored European Christians over Muslims. "Clearly that is racist—clearly our policies are anti-racist," party leader Bob Katter said at the time. His Twitter account is replete with similar posts. "I stand totally against any Muslims in our Parliament," reads a tweet from Tuesday. "Islam is NOT compatible with Australia and our politics," reads another. On March 8 the independent politician said: "Fraser Anning's Conservative Nationals Party" was the only group that will "aim to preserve Australia's predominantly European ethnic composition." Anning did not immediately respond to a request for comment.