A One Nation branch meeting and “meet the candidates” event in Victoria have been cancelled after the Australian Federal Police informed the venue about a threat.
The members’ meeting for the Hawke branch and a separate campaign launch event were set to be held at Club Sunbury, in Sunbury, northwest of Melbourne, on Wednesday evening, but were cancelled on short notice.
Members were told on Tuesday morning in an official email seen by Noticer News that “Club Sunbury received advice from the Australian Federal Police in relation to a threat and associated security concerns and, having considered that advice, made the decision that the events would not proceed”.
No information has been provided on the nature of the threat or whether it was related to far-left extremism, but the Branch Coordinator apologised to members for the disappointment and inconvenience, and said police should be given more resources to protect Australia’s democratic processes.
“What happened last night also leaves us with a troubling question: how have we reached a point in Victoria where threats and security concerns can prevent Australians from gathering peacefully and participating in the democratic process?” they wrote.
“We have enormous respect for our police and for the men and women who work every day to keep our communities safe. But after years of Labor government in Victoria, it is fair to ask whether those entrusted with protecting our community are being given the resources and support they need to ensure Australians can exercise their democratic freedoms safely and without fear.
“Whatever the circumstances of last night, they will not discourage us. If anything, they have strengthened our determination to continue doing what we are here to do.”
The threat comes after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland for comments calling her party “dangerous” and accusing it of “platforming extremists”.
“Millions of Australians support One Nation. They are not extremists. They are not dangerous. And ministers should not use language that encourages others to treat them as if they are,” she said on Tuesday.
“No minister, especially the Attorney-General and first law officer of the country, should suggest there is any justification for threats against Australians because of the political party they support.
“Labor should be asking why Australians are abandoning them for One Nation, not demonising those Australians for how they vote and putting them in danger.”
Late last month an elderly female One Nation staffer was viciously bashed by four far-left extremists at the Royal Queensland Show, just a day after student protesters were caught on camera saying they wanted to murder Ms Hanson.
Left-wing activists at a protest in Melbourne in June also called for Ms Hanson’s death, and thugs affiliated with far-left group Antifa, which is a designated terrorist group in the US, attacked a photographer at an anti-One Nation rally in Brisbane in July.
In April Trump officials warned Australia to start combating Antifa and other violent far-left groups, and stop underestimating the threat of left-wing terrorism and political violence.
Noticer News contacted One Nation for comment.
Header image: Left, Pauline Hanson at a barbecue in Melbourne on the weekend. Right, a poster for one of the cancelled events (One Nation).
