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One Nation Tried To Get Funding From America’s NRA To Weaken Australia’s Gun Laws

One Nation Tried To Get Funding From America’s NRA To Weaken Australia’s Gun Laws

Pressure is now on party leader Pauline Hanson to reveal if she knew anything.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A bombshell investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed people in Australia's One Nation party tried to get millions of dollars of funding from the America's National Rifle Association in exchange for weakening the country's gun laws.

The news organisation spent three years putting the report together, which included secret cameras and microphones that caught various members in the act.

One of the recordings show the party's Queensland leader, Steve Dickson, and Pauline Hanson's chief of staff James Ashby, speaking to members of the NRA about getting more funding.

In one of the videos, Dickson can be heard saying to members of the NRA: "We get the balance of power, very simply that means that we have the testicles of the Government in our hand at every given stage.

"And guns, in the scheme of things, are still going to be the be-all and end-all."

He was also recorded complaining about Muslim immigration into Australia and alleged that 'gangs' were terrorising neighbourhoods. One of the NRA officials, media liaison Lars Dalseide, explained how Dickson could use news reports on these 'gangs' to push for a weakening of the country's gun laws.

Dalseide also explained how to respond when gun reformers speak out after mass shootings.

"How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forward your political agenda?' Just shame them to the whole idea," Dalseide told the group.

Dickson replied to that simply with: "I love that."

Australia is usually held up as one of the leaders of gun reform. The island nation clamped down hard on weapons after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 where a man killed 35 people with a semi-automatic weapon.

Since the special report aired, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison hasn't minced his words.

"We have reports that One Nation officials basically sought to sell Australia's gun laws to the highest bidders, to a foreign buyer, and I find that abhorrent," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

"When John Howard put those laws in under a Coalition government, they were put in to protect Australians.

"No law should be up to the highest bidder as some part of foreign interference."

Pressure is now on party leader Pauline Hanson to reveal if she knew anything of these secret meetings and funding plans.

The ABC reports that there is no evidence to suggest One Nation ever received any money from the NRA or any other group Ashby and Dickson met during their trip to America.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia