Physical Disruption the ‘New Left Tactic’: New South Wales MP
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Extreme leftists are physically disrupting events if they fail to intimidate their opponents into silence, says One Nation’s New South Wales leader Mark Latham.
His comments come after several rallies in Australia against transgender individuals entering women’s spaces were met with strong counter-protests that effectively hijacked media attention.
“The left in Australian politics—I suppose around the world—no longer engages in evidence-based argument,” Latham told Sky News Australia on March 23.
“Their main tactic is about feelings—it’s the ‘vibe’—feelings should prevail over facts.
“And when that doesn’t work, there’s this growing tendency to take direct physical action to close down the speech of the person who’s the main speaker at these events.”
The One Nation leader was set to speak at St. Michael’s Church Belfield in Sydney on March 21 when police suggested he cancel his participation because a small group of LGBT+ protestors began blockading the entrance and protesting.
NSW One Nation MP Mark Latham speaks to media during a press conference outside Canterbury Bankstown Council Chambers in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 20, 2023
“There’s a suggestion today [that] they broke a crucifix and were in the process of burning it. So they were there to cause trouble,” Latham said.
“The tactic is to go there to cause trouble, disrupt, physically interrupt the proceedings, and be part of cancel culture. So, this is the new left tactic,” he added. “I just find it a little bit sick, certainly undemocratic and unworthy of our nation.”
Latham has been a vocal critic of young children being taught gender fluidity and transgenderism in public schools. A stance that has galvanised support for the right-leaning party in the lead-up to the March 23 state election.
The One Nation leader also said the major parties had all lurched towards the progressive left.
“[We] worked out the policy settlement through the whole Howard-Costello era. Australia pretty well had it right. Why did we ever change? Why did we ever regress?” he said.
“Should New South Wales have four woke, left-wing parties? Labor, the Greens, Liberal, and National Party,” he said. “I proudly say One Nation is there as policy traditionalists in the mainstream for all the things that worked well for us in the 1990s.”
Chaos Follows Public Debate Around Transgenderism
Counter-protestors confronted the LGBTIA+ activists in front of St Michael’s Church Belfield on March 21.
The group included Christians, Muslims, and non-religious individuals, said Charlie Bakhos, current organiser of Christian Lives Matters.
Clashes erupted, however, with bottles being thrown at police while a live streamer was knocked over.
Three men have been charged for the confrontation, including Christian Sukkar, who posted a video online calling on counter-protestors to “shake them up and drag them by the [expletive] head.”
He later told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he regretted the video.
“I’m very apologetic if my message turned very harmful … if they took my comments as an incitement of hate,” he said.
The incident in Sydney was one of a series where LGBT+ supporters followed and protested against those they deemed were “anti-trans.”
Rallies fronted by British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker) drew the most attention.
LGBTIA+ supporters have counter-protested at “Let Women Speak” rallies across Melbourne, Tasmania, and Canberra—often outnumbering women’s rights advocates several times over.
In Canberra, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe caused a scene when she interrupted a speech—while waving the Aboriginal flag—by Keen-Minshull and was confronted by police before being dragged to the ground.
The former Greens senator then crawled away from the police before getting up and walking towards the counter-protestors.
Women’s rights advocates Katherine Deves and Senator Claire Chandler expressed fears over their personal safety, particularly after police allowed neo-Nazi protestors to enter the same area they were rallying in during the Melbourne event.
