One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce says the convicted rapist sacked from the minor party’s headquarters on Sunday was the victim of a political smear job as he had served his time.
Party leader Pauline Hanson said on Sunday she had fired Sean Black, who was rehired by the resurgent minor party after he went to jail in 2018 for raping and violently assaulting a woman, after his record was attacked by the Coalition.
“I actually shot this man in question today in front of his wife, with his two children in the next room. So he’s gone, finished,” Hanson told Sky News late on Sunday.
“When do we stop in this country? This man was convicted, and … please understand, I don’t condone this sort of behaviour whatsoever and what happened. But he did his time, and he came out.”
Joyce on Monday argued that convicted criminals deserved a chance at redemption.
“I can see where this is going to get people to go. People are going to start suggesting all range of people who have had criminal convictions,” Joyce told Sky News.
“I think it’s demeaning, and also it shows that … obviously you believe that if a person goes to jail, they’re in jail forever. There’s no sense of redemption, there’s no sense of turning a corner.”
Joyce said he knew of other political staff who had been to jail for serious crimes, “but you don’t go around scratching their eyes out”.
He said opposition defence spokesman James Paterson, who attacked One Nation’s credibility on issues of law and order and domestic violence on Sunday morning, had “now decided the rules have changed”.
“We can start suggesting other people who he might want to turn his attention to, but I won’t because that would be making me of the same line as him – I don’t intend to do that,” Joyce said.
The MP for the northern NSW seat of New England said Black’s position became untenable because of media “hype”. Black’s ongoing employment at the party’s Brisbane headquarters was confirmed this month by News Corp.
Asked whether he would have preferred to keep Black on, Joyce said: “The issue is now being dealt with.”
Hanson accused the Coalition of engaging in “gutter politics” after Paterson said One Nation was only parading as a credible party of government.
“They’re in fear of the rise of One Nation, so let’s get in the gutter. I don’t play those games,” Hanson said.
Paterson said on Sky News on Sunday that it was extraordinary One Nation had chosen to rehire someone who had been convicted of such a serious crime.
“It’s very hard to take One Nation seriously when they talk about law and order, when they talk about being tough on crime, when they talk about domestic violence,” he said.
“This a political party, which is polling second nationally, according to most polls. They have a pretence of being a serious political party, and they are employing a convicted rapist to work for them.”
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Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
