• (Aus) ‘Hate and racism have no place': More Young Nats out amid alt-right probe
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Four more Young Nationals with alleged connections to an alt-right movement have resigned from the National Party, as senior leaders say they "will not rest" until all extremists are expelled. Key points:  The National Party releases a statement declaring "hate and racism" has no place in its party 19 Young Nationals have now resigned since the ABC uncovered an alt-right push within the party  The Nationals' NSW arm unanimously passes a motion on Friday banning any member involvement with white supremacist groups The statement, released by the National Party leadership today following an ABC investigation into an alt-right push inside the party, came as the party sent letters to a further three members requesting them to resign or show cause why their membership should not be cancelled.  A total of 19 members of the Young Nationals have now resigned since the party's constitution and ethics committee launched an investigation following revelations by the ABC's Background Briefing program. In a joint statement, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Nationals chairman Bede Burke said they were "extremely pleased" that these people had resigned from the party. "We are glad the investigation was handled quickly and effectively," the statement said.  "But [we] will not rest until every last one of these extremists have been identified and removed from the party. "The politics of hate and racism have no place in our party or any modern democracy, and we will not tolerate attempts by extremists to hijack democratic processes to further their own ends. "The views promoted by these people go beyond the 'contest of ideas' that politics should be about and are instead the same small-minded, hateful beliefs that Australians have always stood against." The party's constitution and ethics committee's investigation into "far-right infiltration of the party" would continue, it said in the statement. ... Read more at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-02/more-young-nationals-resignations-party-vows-to-expel-alt-right/10461228 For members not from Australia, the Nationals are the third major political party in Australia, and often form Coalition governments with the Liberals. They are essentially the right-leaning party for regional and rural seats, whereas the Liberals (also right-leaning) tend to focus on urban seats.
Offtopic, but due to PDX games, when I see AUS shortcut, I think of Austria. Also good for Australia! Proof that the right-leaning politics can go without any hate and/or racism. Proud of you, wankers!
But fReE sPeEcH Good on Australia for solving the paradox of tolerance.
It’s a fair point and I always hate writing ‘Aus’ because of that. But yeah, the 80 character limit for thread titles is a hindrance. Mainstream Australian politics is certainly much more sensible than what you would see in eg the US, however those racists still exist and often vote for the One Nation Party. Fortunately, One Nation never really gets >10% of the vote. It’s a relief that this alt-right hijacking of the major parties was shut down, because otherwise it could have really done some damage to Australian political discourse if it succeeded.
The Liberals probably need a bit of introspection into this issue as well - my inside sources tell me toxicity and alt-rightism are not too far from the surface in the Young Libs in the Sydney area
The Young Liberals have always been toxic. No young Australian would be bothered to sign up with and pay fees to a political party if they only cared about sensible, pragmatic politics-as-usual.
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