PM defends Frydenberg, condemns Antisemitism
“I’ll tell you what it’s a time to draw a line on, it’s anti-Semitism,” Morrison said.
“Antisemitism has no place in this country”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after being asked, once again, if Josh Frydenberg was eligible to sit in Federal Parliament.
Trevor Poulton, the author of The Holocaust Denier and a member of the Labor Party, claimed this week that Frydenberg holds Hungarian citizenship because his mother, who is a Holocaust survivor, had Hungarian citizenship.
“I’ll tell you what it’s a time to draw a line on, it’s Antisemitism,” Morrison said.
“For a Holocaust denier to seek to progress that agenda by pretending to have some sort of constitutional purity on Josh Frydenberg, I’m just going to call it out for what it is. And I think Australians… I think they would share that.”
Morrison went on to attack the “absolutely sickening and disgraceful” scourge of antisemitic graffiti, which is unrelated to Poulton’s attempt to have Frydenberg removed from Parliament, that has been seen across Australia in recent months.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in this country. I mean, I saw also what was happening with the graffiti against our colleague Julian Leeser up in Sydney.
“It’s sickening. And so, we have no truck with these anti-Semitic thoughts or practices or what they’re about.”
Morrison called on the Labor Party to expel Trevor Poulton, who said his book the Holocaust Denier is a work of fiction.
“How he’s even in there I’ve got no idea because I know that is as abhorrent in their way of thinking as it is to ours. So I’m calling that what it is.”
Morrison’s call echoed that of Labor MP Josh Burns, who said there is no place in the Labor Party for Holocaust deniers.
“I’ll be seeking the expulsion of Trevor Poulton under the Victorian Branch rules on the basis that he has breached the national platform which strongly supports human rights and pledges to combat intolerance and discrimination.”
Under the law, only a candidate for Kooyong, or a voter in the electorate, is able to lodge a High Court petition. Poulton has until July 31to lodge the petition.
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