Tag: One Nation

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was responding to an Al Jazeera documentary that reported One Nation party officials Steve Dickson and James Ashby flew to the United States for meetings with pro-gun interests, including the National Rifle Association and political donors Koch Industries in September last year seeking money to undermine Australian gun laws. Dickson and Ashby later told reporters that they had not secured any U.S. money. Morrison said his government had made laws to “criminalize taking foreign political donations so foreign lobbyists cannot seek to influence our politics.” Opposition leader Bill Shorten, whom opinion polls suggest will be prime minister after the election, accused One Nation of a “betrayal of the Australian political system.” “The idea of One National political party operatives going to the United States, seeking millions of dollars, promising to water down gun law protection in Australia — that was absolutely horrifying,” Shorten said. One Nation, an anti-Muslim party that had four senators after 2016 election but has been left with two after defections, said in a statement that all party members “have always complied with the law.” One Nation also suggested the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera had breached new laws that prohibit covert foreign interference in Australian politics. The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. This was not about sourcing money from the NRA. One Nation state president Steve Dickson, who is a Senate candidate at the next election, traveled with Ashby and Muller to the United States to ask for political donations, Al Jazeera reported. Dickson told reporters on Tuesday he supported Australia’s gun laws. Hanson, One Nation’s leader who was criticized for wearing a burqa in the Senate, voted for the ban on foreign donations in November. “Overseas money should not have an influence in our political scene … so I believe foreign donations should be stopped,” Hanson told the Senate.