State election 2021: WA One Nation candidate Roger Barnett sacked for posts about Muslims, Aboriginal people

One Nation has sacked its candidate for the seat of Forrestfield after it emerged he repeatedly posted racist commentary attacking Aboriginal Australians and Muslims on social media. Roger Barnett also wrote on Facebook “I’m a prick I kicked my wife in the kidneys” and described a “domestic with a niehbour [sic]” during which he “punched him in his snoz for not turning his music down”. In other posts dated between 2012 and 2018 Mr Barnett made derogatory remarks about Aboriginals and Muslims and stated “I stand up for my family n my rights hail hitler”. In 2016, he took to Facebook to recount sitting a literacy and “numerous” test for a degree in hospitality management. “One of the questions was if hassan [sic] was painting his house and he had 470 sqr meters to paint and 4 litres covered 40 sqr meters how much paint will hassan need,” he wrote. “My answer is why the f… is a Muslim painting a house anyhow thought they lived in mud houses.” When describing being stuck in slow moving traffic due to a crash on Forrest Highway he said “the only relief will be if it’s bunch of muslims”. He also compared visiting a shopping centre in Mirrabooka to “downtown Syria”. In 2012, the Mandurah Mail reported Mr Barnett – then living in Falcon – had been involved in an altercation with a group of Aboriginal youths running amok in a Mandurah McDonald’s. Describing the incident on his own Facebook page, Mr Barnett wrote “a group of a*** kids come in throwing chairs swearing” and “calling the girl staff unmaginables [sic]”. “So I say to this a*** kid about 12 just get out and he spits in my face so I give him a slap across the face and pushed him outside so it was on 4 young and old,” he said. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation WA president Rod Caddies said Mr Barnett’s comments were “insensitive, senseless and stupid”. “One Nation WA in no way endorses any hatred or violence towards another person,” Mr Caddies said. “In my capacity as president of the One Nation party in WA I have spoken to Roger in regards to these posts and although it is too late for him to withdraw as a candidate, he is aware One Nation does not support his candidacy. “Although Mr Barnett regrets the posts, says he no longer holds those views, and did not express those views during pre-selection, he would never have been endorsed if One Nation had been aware of the posts at his time of pre-selection.” One Nation attracted 10 per cent of the first preference vote in Forrestfield in 2017. Citizenship and Multicultural Interests Minister Paul Papalia accused the WA Liberals — who have placed One Nation above Labor on how to vote cards in Forrestfield — of “doing a tacky preference deal with the party. The Liberals have also preferenced One Nation above Labor and the Greens in every Upper House region besides North Metropolitan, while Labor has placed Pauline Hanson’s party last across the board. Mr Papalia said Mr Barnett’s comments were “a pathetic attempt to divide Western Australians”. "Western Australians from diverse backgrounds have joined their fellow citizens in helping each other defend the State's most vulnerable at a time of great need,” he said. WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup rubbished the suggestion his party had made a preference deal with One Nation saying “for Labor to suggest otherwise is just wrong”. He also condemned Mr Barnett’s posts as “vile” and having “no place in our society”. “I’ve taken immediate action to ensure we preference this individual last,” Mr Kirkup said. “It’s disheartening that Labor’s immediate reaction was a desperate attempt to score political points rather than join the Liberal Party in a united stance against racism. Labor should know better.” One Nation currently has two MPs in the Upper House – Colin Tincknell representing the South West Region and Robin Scott from the Mining and Pastoral Region, both of whom are re-contesting their seats.