Peter Dutton has angrily hit back at a Greens senator for accusing him of being a neo-Nazi for wanting to help white South African farmers.
Nick McKim, the Greens’s immigration spokesman, last week suggested the immigration and home affairs minister was a ‘white supremacist’ for flagging the idea of giving special refugee visas to white landowners.
However Mr Dutton, a former Queensland police officer, hit back saying the Greens had failed to point to one word or sentence he had spoken which could imply he is a fascist.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has angrily hit back at a Greens senator for accusing him of being a neo-Nazi for wanting to help terrified South African farmers
‘Having been called a racist or a fascist or a neo-Nazi as they did last week, you know some of that mud sticks and it angers me because that’s not the person I am and if you look at my life in this place and as a police officer, I’ve not discriminated against people,’ he told Sky News on Monday night.
‘Point me to a sentence, to a word that I used that was racist or fascist or neo-Nazi in its context or intent and of course they can’t.’
After Senator McKim’s delivered an inflammatory speech in parliament, Canberra-based Sydney Morning Herald press gallery journalist Jacqueline Maley suggested the Greens politician had ‘danced his steps perfectly when he came out on Thursday and labelled Dutton “racist” and “fascist”.’
Nick McKim suggested the immigration and home affairs minister was a ‘white supremacist’ for flagging the idea of giving special refugee visas to white landowners
Mr Dutton (right on Sky News), a former Queensland police officer, said the Greens had failed to point to one word or sentence he had spoken which could imply he is a fascist
Without mentioning her by name, the immigration minister suggested there was left-wing media bias that supported the Greens.
‘Unfortunately, they’ve got many travellers on the left within the media who don’t call them out, who refuse to call them out and I’m just not going to be cowered into submission,’ he said.
Last week, Senator McKim condemned Mr Dutton for wanting to give refugee status to white South African landowners who will be forced off their properties without compensation.
In 2017, 400 farmers were bashed in South Africa, with two farmers murdered every week.
‘They’re adopting an approach to South Africa that’s been lifted from neo-Nazis and white supremacists,’ Senator McKim said.
‘Make no mistake. The yearning for apartheid and the White Australia policy still exists inside the Liberal Party in Australia today.’
The Tasmanian senator’s speech came three weeks after South Africa’s mainly black lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to confiscate white-owned land without compensation.
The motion was moved by radical MP Julius Malema, from the Economic Freedom Fighters, who later said he wanted to ‘cut the throat of whiteness’.
White elderly farmers have been murdered and brutally assaulted on their land, as South Africa tries to undo the racist, colonial policies of Apartheid.
Peter Dutton has called for special humanitarian visas to be given to these farmers.
Peter Dutton has called for special humanitarian visas to be given to farmers (pictured is Piet Els, 86, who was bashed with a metal bar despite being a friend of the late Nelson Mandela)
In 2017, 400 farmers were bashed in South Africa, with two farmers murdered every week
However, Senator McKim said this idea was racist, even though Australia under Tony Abbott in 2015 agreed to settle 12,000 Syrian refugees.
‘Without a moment’s hesitation, Home Affairs Minister Dutton jumped into the fray, saying that these white farmers needed rescuing by a ‘civilised country’ like Australia,’ he said.
‘Now, in using those words, Minister Dutton is not dog-whistling to racists; he is actually foghorning to racists.
‘There’s nothing subtle about this racism and this white nationalism, and it is becoming more and more blatant in the Australian Liberal Party every day that passes during which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull does not rebuke and pull his home affairs minister into line.’
South Africa’s constitution is set to be amended after the national parliament in Cape Town voted, 241 to 83, to seize land from white farmers.
The policy had the support of the ruling African National Congress, led by new president Cyril Ramaphosa, but it was opposed by the Opposition Democratic Alliance.
The motion to evict white farmers was moved by radical Marxist MP Julius Malema, from the Economic Freedom Fighters, who later said he wanted to ‘cut the throat of whiteness’