WELLINGTON: New Zealand rugby star and heavyweight boxer Sonny Bill Williams has waded into an Australian political joust, calling a senator “cocky” and “racist” for vowing to ban Muslim immigration.
In a tweet which has since been deleted, far-right senator Fraser Anning said the people of New South Wales were “very concerned about Muslim immigration. My party will ban all Muslim and Black immigration and ensure safety for Australians once more,” it read. Williams, a devout Muslim, responded with a tweet saying: “It’s remarkable how cocky a racist can be in today’s society.”
Anning – whose Conservative National Party is fielding candidates in Australia’s upcoming general election – was censured by his parliamentary peers last month for claiming the Christchurch mosques massacre resulted from New Zealand’s immigration policies. The Queensland senator has long courted controversial views, and once called for a “final solution” to Australian immigration.
