Politics

What A Shame: Former Senator Fraser Anning Is Reportedly Facing Bankruptcy

The former far-right senator is best known for copping an egg right to the noggin.

by Joseph Earp  3 August 2019
Egg Boy and Fraser Anning, #auspol

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In a perfect world, you wouldn’t even know who Fraser Anning is.

After all, the former senator has hardly had an illustrious career. Scraping into parliament off the back of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, before being booted out of Bob Katter’s Australian Party for his extreme views on immigration, Anning only manages to court media attention when he says something so vile reporters are forced to correct him.

Hence the headlines he made when he referenced a tenet of Nazi politics in his maiden political speech, calling for a “final solution” on the “problem” of immigration. And hence his desperate and failed attempt to restructure the narrative surrounding the tragic Christchurch shooting, an international incident he shoehorned himself into via an inflammatory press release that was widely derided at home and abroad.

Oh, of course, and led to him copping an egg right in the back of the head, thanks to a young activist named Will Connolly.

Indeed, that makes this news story something of an anamoly. This isn’t about something Anning has said, it’s about something that he has done. Namely: skirted with bankruptcy.

Yes, as first reported by the ABC, the former senator — he lost his seat in the 2019 election — has unpaid debts to Bendigo Bank.

The news broke when a subsidiary of the bank filed papers against Anning, calling him in front of a court hearing due to be held on September 17. According to the papers, and as noted by the ABC, the bankruptcy charges reportedly relate to a “failed agribusiness scheme.”

It’s worth remembering this isn’t even the first time the former senator has found himself in such a situation. Shortly before he took to parliament in 2017, he settled a bankruptcy order filed once again by Bendigo Bank.

By all accounts, Anning is currently out of the country, visiting his daughters in the United States. He’ll probably have something to say about all this when he lands back in the country, but it’s highly unlikely anybody will actually be bothered to listen to it.