Anning’s speech a ‘solid gold’: Bob Katter backs party senator ‘1000%’

Fraser Anning has found an ally in his party’s leader after his controversial maiden speech. Bob Katter, leader of the Katter’s Australian Party, said he backed Anning “1000 percent,” calling his speech “absolutely magnificent.”

Senator Anning was besieged with criticisms from his colleagues after claiming in his maiden speech that Australia should ban Muslims from coming to the country. He said all terrorists were Muslims even though not all Muslims were terrorists. He also used the term “final solution,” which is associated with Nazis, although he denied the next day that he meant it to be a Nazi phrase.

His speech drew criticisms from other MPs and senators, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten joining those condemning his comments. Pauline Hanson, who had claimed in her maiden speech in 1996 that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians,” even said she was “appalled” by his comments.

Anning, who was elected to the Senate after One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts was disqualified for being a dual citizen, was unapologetic. He said he stood by his views, rejecting the claim that he had used a Nazi term in his speech about migration and “European Christian” values. And although there were some of his colleagues who congratulated him right after he delivered his speech, he mostly received condemnation from different parties.

Not from his own party, though. Katter thought his speech was “absolutely magnificent.”

“I love it. Our phones are on fire. Ninety percent of Australia have been waiting for someone to say it and believe it,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Absolutely 1000 percent I support everything he said. His speech was absolutely magnificent. It is everything his country should be doing. It was solid gold.”

Katter claimed Muslims were involved in six or seven murders in Australia, adding that the country was being “buried by mass migration.” He also said Muslims in Australia were persecuting the Jews, and that Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg, who is Jewish, “should be ashamed of himself.”

On why Anning used the Nazi Germany phrase “final solution,” Katter had a stunning defence of his party member. Anning, he said, had “absolutely no idea” that it was an offensive term.

“He didn’t get to a university to know the significance of these words,” Katter claimed. “He’s smart, but he hasn’t read all the history books. He doesn’t know what any of this means. And nor will he spend any time finding out.”