Cory Bernardi steps out in support of anti-halal Q Society following Liberal Party defection
Updated
Conservative senator Cory Bernardi has defended choosing an anti-halal function in Melbourne on Friday night to make his first public appearance since quitting the Liberal Party.
Derogatory comments were reportedly directed at Muslims and homosexuals at the same event in Sydney on Thursday night, with cartoonist Larry Pickering quoted as saying: "Let's be honest, I can't stand Muslims."
The event "Defending Freedom of Speech" was organised by anti-Islam group the Q Society to raise funds for a defamation case brought by halal certifier Mohamed El-Mouelhy, which will soon go to trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
The lawsuit relates to several online videos by the Q Society about the halal certification industry.
Police guarded the front door to Friday night's event on Flinders Street in Melbourne's CBD, which was attended by about 120 people.
Scuffles earlier broke out and protesters hurled abuse at attendees as they tried to board a bus for the event in St Kilda.
The stand-off continued for more than an hour before the protesters agreed to let the bus pull away.
ABC staff had been allowed to attend the event, but were not able to board the bus because of the protest and had to follow it to the mystery CBD location.
Senator Bernardi received a standing ovation, with calls for him to take over the prime ministership, after a speech in support of the anti-halal movement.
He called for greater freedom of speech and aired concerns about migrants failing to assimilate.
"They are very mainstream concerns and I've said for many, many years; unless they are responded to in a fit and proper manner by mainstream political parties, alternatives will arise that are sometimes not as healthy for a community and a society."
The South Australian Senator this week defected from the Liberal Party to establish the Australian Conservatives.
Q Society not a far-right-wing group: Bernardi
He said the Q Society should not be characterised simply as a right-wing group, adding that many in the community have concerns about the halal industry.
"People use the sorts of pejorative terms of, you know, hard-right and things like that. These are people with concerns," he said.
"Just like the people who are protesting in a violent and vile way today have concerns, these people are going about expressing their concerns in the right way."
Senator Bernardi condemned the comments at the previous night's event saying, "No matter how much I celebrate free speech, they were absolutely out of line."
Fellow conservative, Coalition MP George Christensen, also spoke at the event and condemned the previous night's abusive comments.
Mr Christensen rejected any suggestion that he also planned to defect.
"Cory has not asked me to go with him, Cory is a mate, he's in another party, I've got mates in other parties so it's no problem."
Topics: race-relations, community-and-society, government-and-politics, liberals, political-parties, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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