One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s meetings with a highly controversial British far-right activist were about fighting “social disharmony”, MP Barnaby Joyce said as he was again forced to defend his newly adopted party.
Senator Hanson has spent much of the mid-year parliamentary break in the UK on a “fact-finding mission” and met with a host of hard-line conservative and fringe figures, including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – an anti-Islam campaigner who goes by the moniker Tommy Robinson.
Mr Yaxley-Lennon has a string of convictions ranging from assault to stalking.
British authorities have also investigated him for his ties to Russian propagandists and travels to Moscow.
Mr Joyce said on Thursday he did not “support so much of what Tommy Robinson does” but that “it’s incredibly important that we understand the social dynamic and how that came about”.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has met British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by his moniker Tommy Robinson. Picture: Supplied
Mr Yaxley Lennon praised Senator Hanson as ‘one of the bravest lady’s (sic) on the planet’. Picture: Supplied
“Tommy Robinson only exists because of the fracturous nature of where England has arrived at, and to deny that is to deny the facts,” he told ABC’s Radio National.
One of those issues was “a change in many areas towards the Islamisation of the communities”, he said, adding that it “has brought real friction” and fuelled “the rise of … Tommy Robinson”.
Mr Yaxley-Lennon first became involved in politics in the mid 2000s as a member of the British National Party – a fascist party with no elected representatives at any level of government.
He rose to prominence early last decade after co-founding the English Defence League and staging anti-Islam street protests across the UK.
In recent years, he has rebranded himself as an independent media figure and is associated with several alt-right outlets and activist groups as well as Russian state media.
Mr Joyce said it was important to acknowledge that Mr Yaxley-Lennon has a “massive following” and “make sure we don’t replicate the social disharmony that has brought that about”.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has defended the meeting. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
“We want to clearly understand the social dynamics of how that came about,” he said, likening Mr Yaxley-Lennon to Italy’s World War II-era dictator Benito Mussolini.
“I find … everything about Mussolini repugnant, but if I had the opportunity to talk to him, I would to find out exactly what was going on in (his) head.”
Mr Yaxley-Lennon last week praised Senator Hanson as “one of the bravest lady’s (sic) on the planet” after interviewing her on his podcast.
“Fearless, relentless, consistent, fighting for the Australian people and hopefully the next leader of her nation,” he wrote of Senator Hanson on social media.