Pauline Hanson Has Suggested Using Cattle Prods On Climate Change Protesters And Sorry, What?
Nothing says free speech like advocating for police violence against protesters.
Pauline Hanson has suggested that police simply use cattle prods on environmental protesters who pose an inconvenience to the community, in an uncomfortable video posted to Twitter today.
Walking menacingly toward the camera wearing an Akubra and holding a cattle prod, Pauline lays out her bold new plan to “punish protester pests”, suggesting that the police (or hell, the general public) simply use a cattle prod on them.
“Well I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of these before — it’s called a jig, in other words a cattle prod,” she says. “When the farmers have trouble with the cattle and getting them up off the floor of the trucks, or in the cattle yards, well they just touch them with this and they soon move — doesn’t matter how big the beasts are, they’ll soon move with this.”
“Recently we’ve had all the protesters in Brisbane lying on the streets, gluing themselves, and what about the protesters now, they’re talking about how they want to go to the airports, stop the traffic at the airports,” she adds, referring to reports that Extinction Rebellion protesters are considering adopting the tactics of the Hong Kong protesters and peacefully shutting down an airport to call for action on the climate crisis.
You have just shown Australia and the world that you are totally unfit for any public office. Cattle prods to be used against our citizens, the sort of gormless idea after your dalliance with the NRA .
I think Australia has had enough of your mindless offerings .— Revd Andrew Klein ( Chaplain) (@KleinRevd) August 20, 2019
“What about you? How about if you need to get through the traffic, maybe take a loved one to the hospital, or desperately need to get to your job, or something is happening and the protesters are there? You know what I reckon’s the solution? Let’s use one of these on them, I think they’ll soon move.” By “one of these” she clearly means the cattle prod, which she is still brandishing at this point.
“Maybe we should give the idea to Annastacia Palaszczuk, see if she’s got the guts to actually give it to police to start using these. I would.”
Let’s just back up for one second here: if you’re unaware, a cattle prod administers a low-voltage electric shock, causing pain. Using a cattle prod on a person is assault. Advocating for police violence against protesters is abhorrent. Pauline should be well aware of all of this, but she still published this video to her massive audience — it’s already been retweeted more than 40 times, including by fellow One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts.
There’s also the fact that Hanson published this tweet just a few hours after she tweeted about the need to support free speech (though the kind of free speech she was supporting was Alan Jones’ suggestion that someone shove a sock down Jacinda Ardern’s throat). Seems that advocating violence against people exercising their free speech might be the opposite of defending free speech, huh?
You can see the video for yourself below. That’s your elected representative, folks.
PAULINE'S PLAN TO PUNISH PROTESTER PESTS@OneNationAus leader Pauline Hanson has come up with a plan to deal with the serial pest, climate change protester who are planning to shut down Australian airports. #auspol
LINK: https://t.co/An6ZkDjawx pic.twitter.com/L1Guu9Ovej
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) August 20, 2019