Extract from The Guardian
Opposition leader responds to Christensen’s ‘eco-terrorists’ comments and Bernardi’s co-sponsoring of bill to amend 18C
- Daniel Hurst, political correspondent
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has accused a north Queensland
MP of being a member of “team idiot” for suggesting the region’s biggest
terrorist threat comes from “extreme greens”.
The Liberal National party member for Dawson, George Christensen, said “eco-terrorists” who campaigned against the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal lied about “toxic sludge” and “deliberately took the Great Barrier Reef hostage and used it as a weapon to try and coerce government”.
Christensen made the comments in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, amid heightened tensions over national security issues and the threat posed by disaffected Australians attracted to the ideology of the Islamic State (Isis) militant group.
Shorten responded to the speech by calling on all members of parliament to play a constructive role at this time. He also criticised the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi for co-sponsoring a private bill to water down protections in the Racial Discrimination Act.
“The government’s used the term ‘team Australia’ a lot,” Shorten said on Thursday.
“I’m worried about the emergence of ‘team idiot’. Bernardi, Christensen … I don’t know what book they’re reading from but it’s not any book I want to pick up.
“I’ve got no time for high-handed extreme green tactics but let’s face it: this week our focus has been on national security and terrorism. I think they’re very unwise words from this chap; I don’t know if he’s just a headline hunter. I just caution that Australia’s got serious issues to deal with in the parliament and we don’t need an outbreak of ‘team idiot’.”
The Australian Marine Conservation Society called on Tony Abbott to discipline Christensen for the “appalling” comments, describing them as “deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable at any time, but more so given Australia’s heightened security environment”.
“The prime minister has been urging all Australians to remain calm in the face of increased terrorism threats,” said the society’s reef campaign director, Felicity Wishart.
“He needs to ensure his own MPs do not contribute to an environment of fear and aggression.”
In his speech, Christensen said: “The greatest terrorism threat in north Queensland, it is sad to say, comes from the extreme green movement. When I say ‘extreme greens’, I am not talking about ordinary community groups and individuals who genuinely care about and work to improve the environment or locals who have genuine concerns about local impacts of certain projects. What I am talking about are large, well funded, well organised eco-terrorists who use fear and blackmail to coerce government and the public into adopting their extreme political and ideological viewpoints.”
Christensen said eco-terrorists “would destroy our economy, our jobs and our way of life”.
They had “butchered the international tourism market for our greatest tourism attraction, not for the reef but for political ideology” and “threatened to kill off thousands more jobs in the resource industry”, he said.
“Today I put extreme greens on notice: north Queensland will not bow down to those eco-terrorists; north Queenslanders will defend their jobs and lifestyles and call out the gutless green grubs for the terrorists that they really are.”
The Liberal National party member for Dawson, George Christensen, said “eco-terrorists” who campaigned against the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal lied about “toxic sludge” and “deliberately took the Great Barrier Reef hostage and used it as a weapon to try and coerce government”.
Christensen made the comments in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, amid heightened tensions over national security issues and the threat posed by disaffected Australians attracted to the ideology of the Islamic State (Isis) militant group.
Shorten responded to the speech by calling on all members of parliament to play a constructive role at this time. He also criticised the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi for co-sponsoring a private bill to water down protections in the Racial Discrimination Act.
“The government’s used the term ‘team Australia’ a lot,” Shorten said on Thursday.
“I’m worried about the emergence of ‘team idiot’. Bernardi, Christensen … I don’t know what book they’re reading from but it’s not any book I want to pick up.
“I’ve got no time for high-handed extreme green tactics but let’s face it: this week our focus has been on national security and terrorism. I think they’re very unwise words from this chap; I don’t know if he’s just a headline hunter. I just caution that Australia’s got serious issues to deal with in the parliament and we don’t need an outbreak of ‘team idiot’.”
The Australian Marine Conservation Society called on Tony Abbott to discipline Christensen for the “appalling” comments, describing them as “deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable at any time, but more so given Australia’s heightened security environment”.
“The prime minister has been urging all Australians to remain calm in the face of increased terrorism threats,” said the society’s reef campaign director, Felicity Wishart.
“He needs to ensure his own MPs do not contribute to an environment of fear and aggression.”
In his speech, Christensen said: “The greatest terrorism threat in north Queensland, it is sad to say, comes from the extreme green movement. When I say ‘extreme greens’, I am not talking about ordinary community groups and individuals who genuinely care about and work to improve the environment or locals who have genuine concerns about local impacts of certain projects. What I am talking about are large, well funded, well organised eco-terrorists who use fear and blackmail to coerce government and the public into adopting their extreme political and ideological viewpoints.”
Christensen said eco-terrorists “would destroy our economy, our jobs and our way of life”.
They had “butchered the international tourism market for our greatest tourism attraction, not for the reef but for political ideology” and “threatened to kill off thousands more jobs in the resource industry”, he said.
“Today I put extreme greens on notice: north Queensland will not bow down to those eco-terrorists; north Queenslanders will defend their jobs and lifestyles and call out the gutless green grubs for the terrorists that they really are.”
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