On Saturday, in the wake of Fraser Anning’s deeply disrespectful comments about the Christchurch terror attack, 17-year-old Will Connolly cracked an egg into the head of the controversial senator.
But as the footage went viral, many Australians felt somewhat uncomfortable about the altercation that followed.
While discussing the egging – where the teen hit Anning in the back of the head with an egg and then was struck twice by the senator before being tackled to the ground – The Project co-hosts Tommy Little and Steve Price agreed on what they found most concerning.
“I understand the first hit,” Little said. “The kid comes at him with an egg, he doesn’t know what it is, he turns around and slaps him.
“But it’s the second hit that I have a bit of an issue with.
“He goes once. Then he realises this is a kid, who is not fighting back, and he goes to smack him again.”
What Little nails about the situation was that Anning’s first hit on the teenager was an instinctual and instant reaction to being struck – maybe not what everyone’s first reaction would be, but something understandable.
Then he punches the teen again, with more force. This time the 69-year-old’s hit isn’t out of instinct, but rage. It’s a violent move that makes the senator’s actions far exceed the harm and malice of the boy’s.
Price agreed, saying that while we “can’t endorse politicians being out in public and being attacked”, he felt that Anning should suffer serious consequences.
“[Prime Minister] Scott Morrison should have a media conference tomorrow and say that when parliament resumes on budget week, that Anning will not be allowed in the building.”
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While the prime minister hasn’t condemned Anning’s reaction to being egged, Scott Morrison has labelled the comments he made that led to it as “disgusting”.
Following the Christchurch terrorist attack on Friday in which 50 people were killed by a far-right extremist, the Queensland senator released a statement that suggested Muslim immigration was to blame.
“The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place,” he said. “Let us be clear, while Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators.”
Will Connolly – or egg boy, as he’s been dubbed – cracked an egg on the politician after this abhorrent statement at Anning’s press conference in Moorabbin, Victoria.
And while he’s been labelled a hero by many, on Snaphat the teen seemingly regretted the egging after the physical violence he suffered next.
“Don’t egg politicians you get tackled by 30 bogans at the same time. I learnt the hard way,” he said in the video.
Top Comments
124 comments. That's gotta be closing in on a record for most comments, surely?
It's been pretty amazing to see so many people expect higher standards of decorum from a 17 year old student than they do from a 69 year old Government Senator to be honest.
If you go back a few years there used to be more.
Certainly a recent high.
Was about to say the same thing.
Indeed - study history he must
Apt article on Fraser Anning and his motives -
"Fraser Anning may be vile, but he is also calculating. He is saying the quiet part loud. This government and its leading figures have long said the loud part quietly by stoking fear and hatred for electoral gain in every election since 2001.
In this, they have been assisted by media companies routinely amplifying their racist messaging to consolidate audiences and secure falling profits in a severely disrupted industry. It was always going to end badly, this business of whispering the loud part quietly. And so it has, the whispers drowned out by gunfire and screaming in Christchurch."
Source: https://www.brisbanetimes.c...