Jimmy Barnes has hit out at Pauline Hanson and recounted how he was sent death threats and had his children threatened after he requested anti-immigration groups like Reclaim Australia refrain from using his music during their rallies.
The Cold Chisel frontman, who recently unveiled the first instalment of his autobiography, was a panelist on the ABC’s Q&A last night and aired his thoughts about Hanson during a discussion about her maiden speech in parliament.
“The thing about extremism is that extremism in any form is dangerous,” Barnes told host Tony Jones. “Extreme Christianity, extreme Muslims, extreme anything is dangerous. I think she’s extreme, I think it borders on hate speech.”
“[Hanson] fanning the flames of extremism is not good. I think it’s just ugly hate speech.” During her widely publicised speech, Hanson, who was recently elected to the senate, claimed that Australia is at risk of being “swamped by Muslims”.
Jones then asked Barnes about his own experience with extremist groups. “When Reclaim Australia started, you know, I was watching the news and suddenly there’s ‘Khe Sanh’ or ‘Working Class Man’ being played while people are marching around yelling hate,” Barnes said.
“The thing that really annoyed me was they all were draped in the Australian flag, and they didn’t represent me. It didn’t represent my views, it didn’t represent the Australia I know.”
“I just said ‘please don’t use my songs’. Say what you like, but don’t use my songs. And you should’ve seen the mail I got. The comments I got on Facebook and Twitter were absolutely horrific. People threatening my children, you know.”
“It was like, because I didn’t want to have my songs associated with hate speech, they said I was supporting radical Islam and I should be killed. Ridiculous.” Barnes took to Facebook in July last year to request Reclaim Australia and other groups cease using his songs.
