The Prime Minister must now end his weasel words on preferencing Pauline Hanson and Fraser Anning and endorse the stand taken by his most senior South Australian Senator.
Senator Simon Birmingham this morning committed to putting Fraser Anning and One Nation at the bottom of the Liberal how to vote card, below Labor.
DAVID BEVAN: Look it is pretty straight forward: do you put Fraser Anning and One Nation above the Labor Party? Or do you put them below the Labor Party?
BIRMINGHAM: Well I trust that we will be putting those of extremist positions at the bottom of the ticket and its just a case of seeing which order you put the extremists in ..there will be no deals with any of these parties and extremists will be at the bottom of the ticket. ABC Adelaide, 20 March 2019
I congratulate Senator Birmingham for demonstrating the clear ethical leadership on this issue which has been sadly lacking from Mr Morrison.
Mr Morrison has today made very clear the Coalition is still prepared to recommend voters preference One Nation, Fraser Anning and other extremists.
We will wait until nominations close and as is always the case we'll set our preferences and the full range of tickets. Scott Morrison, ABC TV, 20 March 2019
Other senior Coalition MPs are openly calling for the Coalition to do preference deals with One Nation.
In the recent Queensland state election the LNP preferenced One Nation in 50 of the 58 seats where it ran candidates, and were crucial to the election of a One Nation MP.
Senator Anning is only in our Parliament because of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
Right wing extremists who promote fear to stoke the flames of hate for their own political gain should have no place in our parliament.
Thats why Labor will put Pauline Hanson, Fraser Anning and people like them at the bottom of our preference ticket.
Thats where any decent mainstream party committed to a decent, tolerant, inclusive society would put them.
If Scott Morrison is serious about what he has been saying over the past few days he will join with Simon Birmingham and Labor in committing to putting Fraser Anning and Pauline Hanson at the bottom of his how to vote cards.
It is time for the Prime Minister to show the leadership the nation needs, to stand against hate speech, and to join with Simon Birmingham and Labor in committing to putting Fraser Anning, Pauline Hanson and right-wing extremists at the bottom of the Liberals how to vote cards.
Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.