GetUp director Sara Saleh says Tony Abbott has blood on his hands over Christchurch murders
Thursday, 21 March 2019
GetUp director Sara Saleh says Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison have "blood on their hands" flowing from the murder of 50 people in Christchurch last Friday.
She says Tony Abbott's "Team Australia" comments have "weaponised racism", and "just his existence altogether, I'll say is offensive".
She draws a direct link between what Brendon Tarrant is alleged to have done and comments from Morrison, Abbott and Dutton - she says those 3 have "blood on their hands".
The primary problem for Ms Saleh is that her comments appear to be derived from thin air. There's not one scintilla of evidence to support her horrible accusations.
The only available evidence - Tarrant's published manifesto - directly repudiates her claim. In it, Tarrant directly attacks Abbott-style conservatism:
Tarrant's manifesto concentrates on Europe and he draws wholly from his European experience in explaining what motivated his murderous rampage.
Tarrant is explicit in distancing himself from Australian influences - this from his Q and A style statement:
Where your beliefs given to you by your family/friends/society etc?
No. Those around my were the typical Australians, apathetic and for the most part apolitical, only truly showing motivation in matters of animal rights, environmentalism and taxation.
Why do you care so much about Europe, aren’t you an Australian?
Australia, just like the rest of the colonies of Europe, is simply an off-shoot of the European people. A finger on the hand of the body of Europe.
The origins of my language is European, my culture is European, my political beliefs are European, my philosophical beliefs are European, my identity is European and, most importantly, my blood is European.
If there's any group or philosophy that underpins his attack, it appears to be most clearly aligned with The Greens. Here's a brief extract from Tarrant's statement:
It's rank and offensive political opportunism to invent a link between Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton with the Christchurch murders. Worse still to publicly state that those 3 men have the blood of the dead on their hands.
But it's no surprise coming from GetUp and Their ABC.