A Young LNP leader in Queensland could be dumped after he was filmed laughing at calls for Australia to “stop celebrating a culture that couldn’t even invent the bloody wheel”.
Barclay McGain, the chair of the Gold Coast Young LNP, is under investigation by his own party over what the Labor government has called disturbing, racist comments about Australian Aboriginal culture.
Mr McGain has been condemned on social media after he was filmed interviewing schoolies on the Gold Coast about whether the Australian flag and anthem should be “kept or ditched”.
In footage posted online, he’s seen laughing when one school leaver says: “I’m fed up with having all these sports stars stand out on our stages and not sing the national anthem.
“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.”
The young school leaver who made the comments has identified as an LNP volunteer who’s regularly been photographed with senior LNP and Coalition figures.
The footage was posted on the Gold Coast Young LNP’s Facebook page but was removed when the LNP became aware of it on Monday afternoon.
“The members involved will be subject to the LNP’s internal disciplinary process,” the party said in a statement, adding the material did not reflect the LNP’s values and beliefs.
Mr McGain has told AAP “the powers that be” had banned him from commenting about the incident.
“It has been a whirlwind 24 hours but hopefully I can go back to being a normal 19-year-old. I just have to let it go and move on,” he said.
State Labor’s indigenous Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington must call out racist elements in her party.
“These kinds of views should not be allowed to simmer within any organisation. It’s disturbing on many levels.”
Tourism Minister Kate Jones said the LNP “being outwardly racist” was a major risk for the Gold Coast as an international tourism destination.
“Deb Frecklington needs to show some leadership and hold the young men in this video to account … I’m calling on her to sack Gold Coast Young LNP chair Barclay McGain.”
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