National NSW politician asked to apologise for a Nazi slur
NSW Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party Cootamundra by-election candidate Matthew Stadtmiller has called on outgoing Nationals MP Katrina Hodgkinson to apologise over a Nazi slur directed at him on Twitter.
Offending tweet
In response to a Twitter story by the Cootamundra Herald newspaper announcing Mr Stadtmiller’s candidacy, Ms Hodgkinson replied “Zig heil?” [sic.].
“This by-election is about providing better representation for rural people, and I’m stunned that already the National Party has lost sight of that,” Mr Stadtmiller said.
“This shows that not only do the National Party not have the answers, they also don’t even understand the question.
When I put my hand up to be the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party candidate for this by-election I knew that the National Party would be fighting a desperate, dirty campaign – but I didn’t think they would sink so low so soon.
I have no idea why Ms Hodgkinson would try and associate me with such an abhorrent ideology.
My family ancestry is mostly English with the Stadtmiller side of my family coming here from Bavaria in the 1850s. Both my grandparents fought for the Allies in World War II.”
Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Borsak said that all respect that his party once had for Ms Hodgkinson is now gone.
“It is typical of National Party MPs to smash the furniture on their way out the door,” Mr Borsak said.
“My father escaped Buchenwald concentration camp at the end of World War II and I am disgusted by Ms Hodgkinson’s slur against our by-election candidate.
The gloves are now off. Any respect we once had for her is now gone.
I call on National Party candidate Stephanie Cooke to publicly denounce her predecessor’s comments today and distance herself from them.
National Party Leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro must also denounce these racial slurs by one of his own team.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff commented: “It’s always a concern when Nazi slurs are casually used to score cheap political points. It diminishes the gravity of what the Nazis stood for, and Ms Hodgkinson’s response was singularly inappropriate.”
I lost all respect for Katrina Hodgkinson when I saw this post.
I thought that Gladys Berejiklian’s efforts to reach out to the Jewish community were a positive sign, but obviously that doesn’t extend to her Coalition partners.
My family suffered at the hands of the Nazis.