Shan Ju Lin statement re One Nation dis-endorsement
On Friday 6 January 2017 I posted an article to my Facebook page about a homosexual couple who had been accused of sexually abusing foster children in their care. This posting was a natural reaction to child sexual abuse and reflects the horror of the community. When it was brought to my attention that the couple had been found not guilty in a court of law, the post was subsequently removed.
This dis-endorsement decision has... come as a complete surprise as One Nation has no policy to be adhered to on this issue except for that of a referendum on gay marriage whereby the community would have its say.
The speed of the dis-endorsement decision – without any chance to defend myself – has also been remarkable.
At no time have I been able to speak directly with Pauline Hanson and therefore I have not had the ability to check what has been related to her about the matter. All candidates are only able to contact her via her Chief of Staff Mr James Ashby, who then replies back on her behalf.
I have been greatly reassured by the messages of support on my Facebook page. Members of the community have encouraged me to stand strong on my beliefs. I have also had support from others within the party.
I would suggest that the alleged issue was far more important to Mr Ashby than the membership or executive of One Nation.
The involvement of Ashby has also been pointed at by other ex-One Nation key staff such as advisor Ian Nelson (“One Nation divided: Hanson adviser leaves staff seeing red”, The Australian 7 Jan 2017) and Saraya Beric (“One Nation chaos: website static and staff quitting”, The Australian 6 Jan 2017).
My wholehearted support for Pauline Hanson remains, and I look forward to the internal issues within One Nation being finally resolved for good.
The Harmony Day festival is non-political and will go ahead as planned. The committee will discuss this directly with Mayor Pisasale.
Timeline:
Post went up: 6 Jan 2017
Post was deleted: 6 Jan 2017 sometime after alerted via email
First contact from One Nation official: 6 Jan 2017
Notification of dis-endorsement: 7 Jan 2017 (just prior to Courier Mail article being published)
Currently out of the country on annual holidays.