A Greens senator has protested about British right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos getting a platform to speak in Australia’s Parliament House.
Yiannopoulos, who enjoys riling feminists and mocking political correctness, is addressing federals MPs in Canberra next month as a guest of Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonjhelm.
However, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has emailed him to complaint about the 33-year-old alt-right author getting a morning tea audience in the Mural Hall on December 5.
‘It astounds me that a member of our Parliament would roll out the red carpet to a white supremacist and paedophilia apologist,’ she said on Thursday afternoon in an exchange obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
Milo Yiannopoulos has already annoyed a Greens senator for getting a pass to speak at Parliament House in Canberra next month
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Milo Yiannopoulos shoudn’t be welcome at Parliament House in Canberra
Sarah Hanson-Young says Milo Yiannopoulos travels the world ‘spreading racist and sexist drivel’
‘A man who travels the world spreading racist and sexist drivel, who believes there’s no such thing as rape culture is not welcome in our safe and respectful house of democracy.’
Senator Leyonjhelm, a libertarian who lives in Sydney, told his Greens colleague she had little regard for free speech.
‘This highlights the difference between you and me,’ he replied.
‘Even though you spout such nonsense, promoting division and seeking to enforce compliance with your way of thinking through censorship and exclusion, I will defend your right to speak.
‘Milo has the same right to speak as you. It’s not compulsory for you to listen or to agree. Get over it.’
Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonjhelm has told a Greens senator to ‘get over it’
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young emailed Senator Leyonjhelm to protest about alt-right author Milo Yiannopoulos getting a platform to speak at Parliament House in Canberra
Senator David Leyonjhelm emailed his Greens colleague to accuse her of censoring views she didn’t agree with
Australian Penthouse Magazine says the political left sought to censor those it disagree with like Milo Yiannopoulos
The publisher of Australian Penthouse Magazine Damien Costas, who is organising Yiannopoulos’ Australian tour, said Senator Hanson-Young demonstrated how the political left censored those who they disagreed with.
‘No one’s going to put her on a leash and drag her there like a little sun bear at a Russian circus. She doesn’t have to go,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘This is the problem with the modern left: if you don’t agree with them, you’re either a bigot or a Nazi or a hate monger or whatever other delicious word conjured up.’
Mr Costas rejected the notion Yiannopoulos is a white supremacist.
‘He’s not, he’s a Western supremacist,’ he said. ‘He’s not a racist.
‘The only thing he speaks out against is extreme Islam and last time I checked, Islam is not a race, it’s an ideology.’
Milo Yiannopoulos, who is gay, lost his job after appearing to endorse the idea of same-sex attracted teenagers having their early sexual experiences with someone older
The publisher behind Yiannopoulos’ tour of five Australian cities also slammed Senator Hanson-Young’s description of him as ‘paedophilia apologist’.
‘He made a very valid point about how gay people, or young gay men in fact come out and are assisted in doing so by, in many cases, older gay man because they don’t feel they can go to their family or friends,’ Mr Costas said.
Yiannopoulos was last year sacked from the American right-wing Breitbart News website, where he was technology editor, after video of him surfaced that appeared to suggested he was condoning paedophilia.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young suggested a fence was needed to keep dangerous people like Milo Yiannopoulos out of Parliament House
The Greens senator had equated Yiannopoulos’ visit to Parliament House with elevated security around the building.
‘After all, aren’t we building a fence around the building to keep dangerous people who spread hate and promote harm to others out?,’ she said in the email.
Mr Costas said politicians were more dangerous than Yiannopoulos.
‘I would suggest that we’re building a fence to keep all the f***wits that are elected in,’ he said.