One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts told a conference earlier this year that he was in “two minds” about whether gay people should have equal rights. In footage from June’s Church and State conference, released on Sunday, the senator can be seen responding to a question about James Ashby, the party’s director, who is gay. Both Roberts and the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, appeared at the conservative Christian conference.
In the footage, Roberts described Ashby as bright, honest and straight. An audience member then asked Roberts what Christians should think about Ashby. Roberts responded by referring to the late American bishop and gay rights advocate John Shelby Spong, citing him as saying that after women and black people were no longer recognised as “inferior”, gay people were next.
So all I know is that in this environment, James is not morally sound. But from what I’ve seen of him, his honesty, his integrity, his ability, he is sound. So it’s difficult.” The chief executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, said it was “genuinely shocking” that a One Nation senator would talk about “banning” people.
Roberts is also seen in the footage vowing to push for the party to adopt a blanket abortion ban, contradicting Hanson’s position. He also said he would push for the party to claim that life begins at conception. In an Instagram post from earlier this year, also from the conference, Hanson can be seen saying she “had to have a conversation” with the Farrer MP, David Farley, after he commented that the current immigration intake of 306,000 was “probably not” too much.
As leader she sometimes had to “call the shots”, she said in the latest footage. Since Farley’s migration comments, there have been multiple contradictions and changes in the anti-immigration party’s policy. Church and State describes itself as a “Christian political education ministry” teaching people to look at political issues and candidates through the lens of Scripture.
One Nation representatives have made frequent comments about homosexuality on other occasions. Earlier this month, the MP Barnaby Joyce described One Nation as “one of the gayest parties in Australia” after its failed candidate Parminder Singh described homosexuality as a mental illness. Hanson then said she didn’t like the Mardi Gras and that “your own personal sexuality should be kept behind closed doors”.
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