Fraser Anning

The Australian Federal Court handed down an order winding up the estate of William Fraser Anning on 16 March 2020, as part of Anning's ongoing dispute with Adelaide and Bendigo Bank, which was chasing the debt of $185,000 related to Mr Anning's investment in a failed agribusiness scheme.[15] The date of his bankruptcy was ordered to be set to 15 July 2019. Sources close to Anning say he is currently visiting family in the United States and has not said when he will return to Australia.[16]

In 1998, he stood as a One Nation candidate for the lower house division of Fairfax at that year's federal election.[35]

Anning was third on the One Nation senate ticket in Queensland at the 2016 federal election. He gained just 19 below-the-line first-preference votes under the optional preferential voting system.[36] Due to its high statewide count, One Nation elected two senators in Queensland at the 2016 election – party leader Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts. In October 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, the Court of Disputed Returns ruled Roberts was ineligible to be elected to the Senate due to his failure to renounce his British citizenship.[37] The following month, on 10 November, Anning was declared elected in place of Roberts following a special recount.[38] Prior to his elevation to the Senate, he was facing bankruptcy legal action due to money owed to the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. This could have made him ineligible to sit in parliament, but the case was withdrawn.[2]

Upon his swearing in to the Senate on 13 November 2017, Anning was vouched for (a parliamentary custom indicating that the new member is who he claims to be)[39] by two crossbenchers from other parties: Cory Bernardi (Australian Conservatives) and David Leyonhjelm (Liberal Democrats).[40] Later on the same day, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson issued a media release saying that Anning had "abandoned" the party to sit as an independent "until something else comes along".[41] Anning responded that "she [Hanson] made my position pretty much untenable with her conditions."[42] On 16 November, it was reported that neither Anning nor Hanson had formally made their intentions clear to the Senate chamber regarding his party status, and he therefore remained a One Nation senator in the eyes of the Senate. It was also unclear whether Hanson intended to expel Anning solely from the parliamentary group or the wider organisational party as well.[43] On 15 January 2018, Anning advised the Senate President that he would henceforth sit as an independent.[44] On 5 February 2018, he formed a voting bloc with Bernardi and Leyonhjelm.[45]

On 14 August 2018 Anning delivered his maiden speech to the Senate. In it, he called for a plebiscite to reintroduce the White Australia Policy, especially with regard to excluding Muslims. Anning went on to criticise the Safe Schools Coalition of Australia, as "gender fluidity garbage" and "cultural Marxism".[46] He also condemned what he described as the abuse of the external affairs power of the Australian constitution, and spoke in support of a fundamental right of civilians to own firearms, and the Bradfield Scheme irrigation proposal.[47]

His speech included a reference to a "final solution"—the phrase used by the Nazi Party to refer to the preparation and execution of the Holocaust,[48] when he said "The final solution to the immigration problem is, of course, a popular vote."[49] Anning claimed that his comments were taken out of context, that he had used the phrase to introduce the last of six policies he proposed about immigration. His comments were condemned across the Parliament, including by the Labor Party, the Liberals, the Nationals, the Greens, Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the Centre Alliance, among other crossbenchers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. He has refused to apologise for his comments.[50] Pauline Hanson said she was appalled by Anning's comments and described them as "straight from Goebbels' handbook".[51] However, Anning's party leader Bob Katter described it as "a magnificent speech, solid gold" and said he "1000 percent supports" Anning.[52] Howewer, Anning was expelled from Katter's Australia Party two months later.[24]

Anning was sharply criticised for his comments about the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed. He claimed that immigration of "Muslim fanatics" led to the attacks, and that "while Muslims may have been victims today, usually they are the perpetrators". Anning also stated that the massacre "highlights...the growing fear within our community...of the increasing Muslim presence."[53][54] The comments received international attention and were overwhelmingly criticised as being insensitive and racist, and sympathetic to the views of the perpetrator. As of 18 March 2019, a petition calling for his expulsion from the Australian parliament had amassed 1.2 million signatures, although the ability for the Senate to expel a senator was removed with the passage of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 into law.[55][56]

On 16 March, Anning was struck by an egg on the back of his head by 17-year-old William Connolly while speaking to media and his supporters in a disused industrial warehouse in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin. Anning subsequently punched Connolly twice in the face. Connolly was then tackled by several of Anning's supporters, including United Patriots Front leader Neil Erikson, one of whom held the youth in a choke hold until police arrived and took the teenager away. The teenager was taken into custody by police, but was released without charge, while they launched an investigation into the violence.[57]

On the day following the incident, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison criticised Anning, arguing that "the full force of the law" should be applied to the senator.[58] A fundraiser was started to support Connolly's legal fees and "to buy more eggs", claiming to have raised over $10,000 in under 24 hours.[59] Connolly said he would give the money raised to the victims' families.[60] The money was held by a law firm acting without fee and on 27 May Connolly announced that a total of $99,922 had been donated to two funds providing for the victims of the Christchurch shooting.[61]

The police announced the completion of their investigation three weeks after the incident, saying that Anning would not be charged as his actions had been in self-defence, and that Connolly had received an official caution. However, a man who allegedly kicked Connolly several times while he was held down was charged with assault.[62]

On 11 January 2019, it was announced that Anning would form a party named Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party.[63] On 2 April 2019, the party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission.[33][64] Anning said he would "be announcing candidates across most lower house seats" and "running a Senate team in every state" for the 2019 election.[65] Two parties, the Australian Conservatives and The Nationals objected to the name, arguing it was too similar to theirs and would cause confusion for voters. However, the AEC said the use of "Fraser" and "Anning" in the party's name was "sufficient to aurally and visually distinguish the party's name and abbreviation from other names and abbreviations on the ballot paper". There were similar objections to the request to adopt the abbreviation "The Conservative Nationals". Registration was only granted following the withdrawal of that proposal.[33]

On 26 April 2019, during the 2019 Federal Election campaign, Anning used the site of the 2005 Cronulla race riots in Sydney to announce his party's candidates for New South Wales. A 19-year-old supporter of Anning was arrested and charged with assault and intimidation after being involved in an altercation with members of the media immediately after the announcement, allegedly punching a photographer and abusing a journalist. Video footage shows the young man repeatedly punching the photographer, who sustained injury.[66][67] The assailant was a member of the militant white supremacist group True Blue Crew, which has been linked to terrorism.[8] Adrian David Cheok was a candidate for the Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party and one of his strongest supporters.[68]

Anning lost his Senate seat in the 2019 election.[69]

The party was deregistered on 23 September 2020.[70]