Labor has accused the Prime Minister of demonstrating a "complete and utter failure of leadership" after government backbencher George Christensen called for rallies outside Australian embassies to protest against coronavirus restrictions.
Key points:
- Federal Labor has called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to rein in George Christensen
- Mr Christensen urged viewers of a right-wing conspiracy theorist web series to protest over coronavirus restrictions outside Australian embassies
- Mr Christensen has been a prolific and vocal opponent of coronavirus restrictions
Mr Christensen, who is retiring at the next election, has been a frequent and vocal critic of pandemic controls, prolifically posting on social media to voice his opposition to lockdowns and vaccinations.
Last month he used a speech in federal parliament to liken state and territory COVID-19 restrictions to the totalitarian regimes of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, calling for civil disobedience as a response.
His latest comments were featured on the Infowars web series hosted by far-right American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has been largely banned from social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for violating hate speech policies.
During the 35-minute video show, Mr Christensen urged viewers to protest outside Australian embassies.
In one instance, Mr Christensen laughed when Jones compared Australian COVID-19 quarantine facilities with Auschwitz because they both had "big fences".
In another, Mr Jones described footage of the police presence at anti-vaccination protests around the country as the "Australian version of Tiananmen Square", a 1989 massacre where the People's Liberation Army of China opened fire on unarmed protesters.
Mr Christensen replied: "Yeah, I think that the good news is though that we have that many citizen journalists at the moment … getting the truth out to people."
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Prime Minister Scott Morrison urgently needed to rein Mr Christensen in.
"These are dangerous views being pushed by dangerous people and Scott Morrison doesn't have a peep to say about it," he said.
Neither Mr Christensen's office nor the Prime Minister's office responded to the ABC's request for comment.
The office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals' leader Barnaby Joyce said he was in the United Kingdom and unavailable for comment.
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2021-12-06 12:46:35Z
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