An Australian MP has refused to apologize for an incendiary Facebook post which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled “very inappropriate.”
George Christensen posted a photo of himself holding a pistol at a rifle range Sunday alongside the comment: “You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?” The Nationals MP later said the Dirty Harry-style post, which has now been deleted, had been intended as a joke and was removed only after a request from the Nationals Party leadership.
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Speaking to Sky News Australia, Christensen said: “If putting a joke up on social media and that’s doing something wrong, well there’s going to be a lot of people in trouble.”
The MP for the Division of Dawson in Queensland was reported to police by environmental activists protesting the opening of the Adani coal mine in the region’s Galilee Basin. Greens leader Richard Di Natale also made a separate complaint to the Australian Federal Police, which are now investigating the post.
Speaking to 3AW Radio Monday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the picture was “very inappropriate.” Turnbull added: “He took it down after he was spoken to about it.”
Writing on Twitter, Queensland Police said that they are aware of the photograph as well as the circumstances behind it. “Preliminary enquiries would indicate that no offence has been committed,” the statement read.
A statement from the Queensland Police Service regarding a photograph depicting a firearm that has been circulating on social media today. pic.twitter.com/ALrMpkPyIg
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 18, 2018
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young tweeted a screenshot of a death threat she claims to have received after Christensen’s photo was posted online. In a message containing misogynistic language, the sender writes that they hope Christensen “has one left in the chamber” in order to shoot the politician.
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“The licence to send this type of message to anyone, particularly a member of the parliament, has been given by none other than a parliamentarian himself, of course,” Senator Hanson-Young told ABC News.
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