The Queensland Liberal National Party is slated to suspend the chairman of the Gold Coast Young LNP after a video denigrating Indigenous Australians appeared on the group’s official Facebook page.
SYN Media reports the video shows Gold Coast Young LNP chair Barclay McGain interviewing schoolies on the Sunshine Coast, including one teen who targeted sports stars who decline to sing the national anthem.
“They’re putting our Australian jumper on, they’re gonna sing the anthem,” he told McGain.
“I mean, we’ve got to stop celebrating a culture that couldn’t even invent the bloody wheel, for God’s sake.
“We’ve got to start enjoying and living in Western culture.”
McGain can be seen laughing at the teen’s response.
The @LNPQLD just posted this video. This is what happens when Deb Frecklington’s LNP do deals with One Nation and other extremist groups.
What’s really Un-Australian is @DebFrecklington endorsing these views. #qldpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/eUITgdPcUY
— Queensland Labor (@QLDLabor) December 2, 2019
The Gold Coast Young LNP deleted its Facebook page in the aftermath of the video, foreshadowing censure by senior party officials.
Party leader Deb Frecklington fronted cameras this afternoon to discuss the matter, saying the video was “inappropriate” and that “the party is taking action.”
debfrecklington.exe has stopped working #qldpol https://t.co/oYyD2Ytu8l
— Brock Taylor (@brocktaylor05) December 3, 2019
In a separate statement obtained by SYN Media, a Queensland Liberal National Party spokesperson said the video “does not reflect the values and beliefs of the party” and that members featured in the video will be subject to disciplinary action.
That disciplinary action is expected to come this afternoon, with the party’s president’s committee reportedly gearing up to discuss suspension.
Any expulsion for McGain and the teen – who the ABC states has previously campaigned for the party – will come at the next meeting of the party’s state executive.
According to 9News, McGain said the party has gagged him from discussing the issue.
“It has been a whirlwind 24 hours but hopefully I can go back to being a normal 19-year-old,” he said.
“I just have to let it go and move on.”
An auspicious start to a political career if we ever saw one.
