Taxpayers to foot bill for senator’s trip to Nazi rally

Queensland senator Fraser Anning says he expects taxpayers to foot the bill for his flights to attend a neo-Nazi rally in St Kilda.

The independent senator told The New Daily the event represented “official business”.

Senator Anning, who sparked condemnation when he referred to the “final solution” in his maiden speech in Parliament, insisted that recent events in Melbourne were also happening in Queensland and used this to justify his trip.

“It’s official business. I am a Senator. I didn’t go there for a picnic,” Senator Anning said.

“It’s an airfare down and back. There was no accommodation.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek are among those who have slammed the senator’s attendance at the rally.

Should taxpayers be expected to pay for Fraser Anning’s trip to attend a Nazi rally?

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It was reported the trip cost the Oz taxpayer $2,800. Does a return airfare between Brisbane and Melbourne really cost that much? And we paid that for him to attend a neo-nazi rally? Gee we Aussies are treated like mugs! He was not attending to protest about crime in Victoria or Qld. He was there to join with others in racist rhetoric. I resent my tax dollars being spent on that. I do favour the notion of deporting non-Australian born criminals but I would never stand with neo-nazi groups to demonise a whole race of people which is what Fraser Anning did. We need better than that from our politicians! 

I think all anyone is asking for is a factual account of the situation.

It took far too long for the Victorian police to admit the comonality thread of these gangs running rampant destroying property and assaulting innocent citizens for no apparent reason. No arrests followed by fear of being called racists. This is insanity. But then again Victorians voted for it???

What is a neo nazi rally? Its either a nazi rally or it isn't. So why would a senator be going to such a rally  anyway. I detect a bit of sensationalism here?? Confused.

Charlie, Neo means

neo- a combining form meaning “new,” “recent,” “revived,” “modified,” 

They always said they would be back

the Fourth Reich (German: Viertes Reich) is a hypothetical future German Reich that is the successor to the Third Reich (1933–1945). ... In the modern context, the term refers to Nazi Germany. It was used by the Nazis to legitimize their regime as a successor state to the retroactively-renamed First and Second Reichs.

So vote Independent right? 

Hell Yes KSS but be careful where you put your preferences --

Does he have the right to spend tax payers money on this trip, the simple answer is yes he does, it’s no different to a senator attending a left wing rally, a Greens rally, a Labor rally or a LNP rally he is a representative of the people he supports and who support him, if they don’t like the way he is representing them and don’t agree with what he is saying then they have the right to vote him out at the next election, personally I have no time at all for extreme’s of any sort, and in particular I think that the Greens are a bunch of crazies but that doesn’t give me the right to say that Greens senators shouldn’t be allowed to go to rallies that are protesting against whatever it is that the Green’s support, which is just about everything. Members from all sides of politics in both houses regularly attend functions that pertain to their particular brand of politics and they all do it at the tax payers expense, so should we ban all politicians from going to these functions or just the ones we don’t agree with, well that means the same thing because someone will always disagree with other people’s view.

Well said Jim. What about  a greens senator going whale watching with her daughter and charging it back to the taxpayers?

He also flew business class -- why he would need to do that I dod not know --

You can go to wiki and see who he is and what he stands for!

The first thing we need to look at (do something about) is preferential voting. Certainly nothing democratic about a person sitting in the parliament on 19 votes. Let's stop using votes several times over and get back to first past the post.

Spot on emjay ...that would stop a lot of wheeling and dealing that we have to suffer from the politicians.

emjay, thats what we need more than anything!!! I'm sick of the back room deals. There is nothing in it for voters, only more pain.

I hate preferential voting it is so darn unfair as so many have NO idea how it works and that how these bastards get in

So Fraser Anning gets condemned by standing up for what a lot of Australians are really thinking ,but nobody says anything about homosexuals using our parliment to propose to their homosexual boy friends or to our elected politicians to attend rally's in support of allowing the tradition of marriage to be trashed .
Give me a break you hypocrytes .

If he is voicing the opinions of the people he represents, then he is doing his job...unlike the vast majority of his colleagues.

 

No problem with him going wherever he likes, the people will sort him out.  My problem is with him using my money to do so.  It's about time politicians had some rules around how they use our money, it is becoming more and more obvious that these people will deliberatley use guidelines to rip us off, trips such as this should be paid for out of pocket and be reimbersed once the need has been justified.

By trips like this I mean trips that are not directly linked to a portfollio or to the actual benefit of the taxpayer.

When a Public Servant spends our money (Over $50.00) they are required to sign a declaration stating that the money expended was for use in conducting government business and was essential for the efficient running of the Department.  Two signatures are required one to ascertain the availabilty of the funds  and one that realaeses those funds.

It is obvious that politicians can not determine what is a neseccessary expense when it comes to themselves.

Agree TJ.

The bludgers in Canberra do exactly the same thing as Fraser Anning every day. Jetting off first class on the taxpayers dollar on overseas jaunts and taking their families with them.

An LNP politican died recently in Queensland. Four or five of his politicaL mates flew from Canberra to attend the funeral.

Guess who paid the first class airfares?

Wow.  If anybody had watched the news story about this, he said that he went there for another rally and that the neo nazi rally was not far away.  However, even if he did attend the neo nazi rally, it's good for our politicians to know what's going on in this country.  He also brought up the fact that there are thousands of immigrants in this country.  The originals, chinese, greeks, italians etc., have willingly assimilated into the australian community but the newest immigrants, e.g. muslims, sudanese etc., do not.  In fact far too many of the sudanese have formed gangs and are breaking our laws daily. He said that he was all for these people, those breaking the laws of our country, to be deported back to their home countries and I agree 100% with this statement.  We want people to come here, embrace our laws and way of life, not form their own little communities and take over whole suburbs as their own and not adhere to our laws and way of life.  I say good on him, we need more politicians like him, with the guts to say what they, and the majority of aussies are saying.

Absolutely! He's even gone as far as saying that he doesn't feel confident in holding his senate position at the next election.

Agree with him or not, that's what Australians need, true representation of their constituents, not like the current clowns who stand behind their leader and nod in agreement with everything, simply to keep their jobs.

 

Senator Anning has insisted he was representing his constituents at Saturday’s rally. All pollies claim travel for all sorts of reasons. Anning is no different. The same rule should apply to all when it comes to repaying or not repaying funds. I am not interested in that side of things. However.. what greatly disturbs me is the support he receives from Avi Yemini..a prominent Melbourne Jewish personality.

Although born in Israel Avi Yemini was raised primarily in Australia. He is one of 17 children in an Orthodox Jewish family who were part of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community in Melbourne. He returned to Israel when he turned 18, where he served in the Israel Defence Forces.

Avraham Shalom Yemini (born Avrohom Sholom Waks) is a very strong right wing political activist. In 2018 he joined the Australian Liberty Alliance..also a member of Reclaim Australia. Avi has a vested interest in promoting hate against blacks. Israel is home to 40,000 African refugees. As a signatory to the Refugee Convention, Israel is obliged to allow refugees in, provide social services and ensure they are not deported.

Israel..however.. has continuously sidestepped its legal responsibility to the Refugee Convention by creating unco-operative and inhospitable conditions for refugees. In a nutshell.. the Israeli government has treated these people poorly. They now want them out..NOT because they have caused any trouble…but because Netanyahu describes them as “Infiltrators”… he said Israel should be kept Jewish at all costs. Netanyahu is obsessed with “ethnic purity.” This is very reminiscent of Hitler when he spoke of the Jews in Germany. By using language like “infiltrators” and “ethnic purity”...makes me sick to think how quickly some Jewish people forget.

The Israeli government said the refugees could either accept a once-off payment of $3500 (R42300) and relocate to another African country or spend the rest of their life in jail in Israel. Many Jewish people around the world are strongly against this.

The question I would like to ask..is this what we want for Australia? Of course..all violent groups must be dealt with..violence must be stopped wherever it occurs. But at the same time hate speeches and inciting hate must be seen for what it is. I do agree it’s a good idea to curb (not stop) immigration to give the country time to absorb different cultures and for different cultures to assimilate.

An Australian Senator attending such a rally in the company of a bigoted Israeli/Australian is not the way to go.

 

Image result for avi yemini and fraser anning together

Good post Sophie.  The character you speak of had a gym in Melbourne which specialised in Israeli Defence Training.

A very volatile person, least said the better.

I doubt if many Australians argee with the majority of the comments posted on this topic so far.

At the next federal election please observe how many votes the senator mentioned here gets, if he chooses to stand.

Hope everyone has a happy peaceful 2019 along with EVERYONE in our country

I can certainly understand the angst of some posters. Victorians are obviously embarrassed that the state is going to hell in a handbasket, while having a politician from interstate highlighting their challenges. It appears the only recourse is to reflect on Germany's appalling behaviour of 80 years ago coupled with a strategy of shoot the messenger. Regardless of Annings  political beliefs, the facts remain, he was on official business. He was getting paid to do what he gets paid to do. Take him to task over his opinions if you have his courage?  

Let's not forget, we also paid for the police to attend.

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