George Christensen (politician)

George Robert Christensen (born 30 June 1978), an Australian federal politician, is a member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the seat of Dawson in Queensland for the Liberal National Party of Queensland, elected at the 2010 federal election.^[2] He has frequently made statements critical of Islam and promoted the re-introduction of capital punishment.

Early years and background

Christensen was born in Mackay to third-generation cane farmers who originally emigrated from Denmark in 1901. Christensen was schooled in Andergrove, Walkerston and at Mackay State High before completing an undergraduate degree in journalism. He gained practical experience at a community newspaper, The Pioneer News, before founding a successful publishing business producing two other community newspapers, Walkerston & Valley Advertiser and Northern Beaches Advertiser.^[3]

In 2004, Christensen was elected to Mackay City Council and in 2008 gained a seat on the amalgamated Mackay Regional Council. He had extensive community involvement and was a director of the Mackay Regional Housing Company and Vice-President of Mackay Regional Council for Social Development. He was the foundation chair of Walkerston Community Kindergarten Association and former chair of HACC Transport Mackay Inc.

Political career

Christensen ran as the LNP candidate for the seat of Dawson at the 2010 federal election. On 5 February 2010 the sitting member for Dawson, James Bidgood, announced that he would retire for health reasons after only one term.^[4] Based on Australian Electoral Commission results as at close of the tally room count on 21 August 2010, Christensen was leading the two-party-preferred vote by 2.04 points.

Christensen gained national media attention during the election campaign for articles published by Christensen in the 1990s in The Student Advocate, a conservative university newsletter.^[5] The newsletter articles contained slurs against Jews, gays and women. Although Christensen claimed that the articles had been taken out of context, he said he was sorry for publishing the comments.^[6][7][8]

In the final result at the declaration of the poll, Christensen had achieved a 5.02-point swing on a two-party-preferred basis with a margin of 2.43 points.^[2][9]

Member for Dawson

After the election it was revealed that Christensen failed to resign from his position on the Mackay Regional Council before the election, putting himself at risk of high court action which would not allow him to take office as the member for Dawson.^[10][11] Previously, independent Phil Cleary and Liberal Jackie Kelly have been faced with a by-election after failing to resign from public service positions before winning their respective seats. Despite this, several constitutional law experts said it was unlikely any legal challenge against Christensen would be successful because the constitution ban on "officers of profit under the crown" being elected to federal parliament would most likely not apply to local government councillors.^[12]

In July 2011, Christensen joined other Liberal National Party MPs in driving the entire Bruce Highway as part of a campaign to highlight problem areas on the road and to secure more funding for the Bruce Highway from the Commonwealth.^[13] During the road trip, one of the vehicles in the convoy of MPs hit what Christensen described as a "crater of a pothole" resulting in a tyre blowout.^[14]

In June 2011 Christensen drew criticism from fellow MPs for his manner of attack on Labor's shutdown of the live cattle trade to Indonesia. Christensen implied that Indonesia's religion (the dominant Islamic culture) is to blame for the torture of common cattle and that Australian farmers should not receive criticism for Indonesian mistreatment of live cattle exported to the nation.^[15]

In September 2012 he accused the National Health and Medical Research Council of demonising the sugar industry due to their recommendation to minimise sugar intake. The strong defence of the sugar industry earned Christensen the title of "sugar plum fairy".^[16]

Christensen launched a campaign in October 2012 to persuade the producers of science fiction television series Doctor Who to film the program in Australia in celebration of the 50th anniversary of its first screening on Australian television on 12 January 2015. Two Doctor Who stars have publicly supported Christensen's campaign.^[17]

Second term

In the 2013 Federal Election, Christensen won a second term in office by defeating Labor candidate Bronwyn Taha, adding a further 5.15% to give him a margin of 7.6%.

In February 2013, Christensen was the only federal MP to attend a rally featuring controversial Dutch politician and anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders during his tour of Australia. Christensen said he supported Wilders' view that "people of dual citizenship who act in a way that is contrary to the values of this country and engage in extremist violence should have their citizenship stripped and be deported."^[18]

In the wake of the 2012 Sydney anti-Islam film protests in September, Christensen launched a public attack on those taking part in the demonstration, saying those who broke the law, other than himself, should "jump on the first plane and head back to where you come from because that stuff is just simply not on in this nation."^[19] He also called for authorities to investigate the parents of a young boy who held up a sign which read "behead all those who insult the prophet" during the protests and said the child in question should be put in the care of "better people".^[20]

In March 2013, Christensen told media that he wanted to see the death penalty introduced for serious crimes including murder involving sexual assault.^[21] In May 2011, Christensen refused to back a motion condemning the death penalty and instead told federal parliament he supported the death penalty "for terrorists and for those found guilty of the most heinous of crimes - murder of a child, particularly those involving rape, murder of an elderly person or a person with disabilities, again particularly those involving rape."^[22]

In May 2014, Christensen stated on Twitter that those criticising the 2014 federal budget should "do a tour of Asia & live like these locals", featuring a photo of an impoverished backstreet in a non-specified country.^[23]

In July 2014, Christensen likened climate change to science fiction in a series of comments comparing contemporary statements about climate change to science fiction movie plotlines.^[24] In September 2014, Christensen labeled Greenpeace and other environmentalists as terrorists, stating that they are "gutless green grubs" for opposing the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal in his electorate. In a speech to Parliament, Christensen said that "the greatest terrorism threat in North Queensland, I'm sad to say, comes from the extreme green movement".^[25]

In November 2014, Christensen claimed in an online opinion piece that Halal certification was "outrageous" and a "religious tax". He also claimed that it is "entirely feasible" to think some halal certifiers could be financing groups such as Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood.^[26][27] In December 2014, Christensen drew criticism after making comments on Twitter labelling the "I'll Ride With You" online solidarity campaign following the Sydney Siege as a "typical lefty (campaign) that falsely portrays Aussies as thugs who endanger Muslims." In another tweet, Christensen went on to state: "As I suspected. The #illridewithyou campaign is proudly brought to us by another #hatingwhitey lefty activist".^[28][29] The #illridewithyou hashtag was begun during the Sydney Siege, with thousands ^[30] of people offering to accompany Muslim women on trains, buses, ferries and planes if they felt vulnerable travelling wearing hijabs and burqas.^[31] It was inspired by claims about an incident on public transport at the time, which the originator of the claims later admitted she fabricated.^[32]

In July 2015, Christensen suggested on his website that Australia should consider corporal punishment for drug traffickers, writing that "It's time to do things differently, and I suggest we take a look at how they address the problem in Singapore. Their use of corporal punishment seems to be a highly effective deterrent."^[33][34] In November 2015, Christensen again called for the bringing back of the death penalty.^[35]

On 19 July 2015, Christensen stated in a speech at a Reclaim Australia rally in Mackay that it was "foolishly naive to think that" Australia was not "at war with radical Islam".^[36]

Third term

Christensen was returned for a third term with a reduced margin^[37] in the 2 July 2016 federal election, after being the prime target of social media attention^[38] and extensive campaigns against him and the Liberal National Party from the Australian Labor Party,^[39][40] the Australian Greens, unions,^[41] and left-wing activist group, GetUp!.^[42]

On 25 February 2016, Christensen renewed calls for the suspension of Safe Schools, an anti-bullying program, with a speech saying elements of the program sounded "a lot like the grooming work that a sexual predator might undertake" .^[43] On March 16, after receiving a briefing on a review of the Safe Schools program, Christensen and other conservative MPs declared the review a "stitch-up" with a narrow scope.^[44] In a speech later that day, Christensen called for a parliamentary inquiry into the program, linking an alleged "paedophilia advocate" with the foundation of the Safe Schools program.^[45]

References

External links

• Liberal People – George Christensen
• Mackay Regional Council – Cr George Christensen
• Liberal National Party – George Christensen