A Queensland official for Australia's One Nation party has been identified for previously defending the Hitler Youth organisation and making highly offensive and racist remarks about Aboriginal Australians and migrants. John Drew, who currently serves as a policy development officer for the Ryan branch in Brisbane, has a history of controversial statements and affiliations with far-right groups.
Reports indicate that Mr Drew’s social media activity includes posts where he described Aboriginal people as “rapacious bludgers and grifters,” “ghastly boongs,” and “stone age people.” He also claimed that “at least fifty percent of aborigines are mentally ill” and referred to Olympian Cathy Freeman as an “aboriginal flog.” In one post from 2022, he discussed writing a film script depicting the shooting and killing of Aboriginal people, referring to them as ���vile savages.”
Mr Drew confirmed to Guardian Australia that he holds the policy development officer role. This revelation comes despite One Nation's claims of implementing a sophisticated new vetting system, dubbed 'Operation Obsidian' and 'ONTRACE,' designed to scrutinise individuals taking up party positions. Mr Drew himself stated he was previously expelled from One Nation over two decades ago for being “too radical,” yet he has been a branch official since late last year and has a long-standing association with the party.
Prior to his current role, Mr Drew served as the Queensland secretary for the Australia First party, a far-right organisation, and was the national coordinator for the Patriotic Youth League in the early 2000s, which reportedly had links to a US neo-Nazi group. His continued involvement with One Nation, despite his past and public comments, brings into question the efficacy of the party's new vetting procedures and its commitment to preventing extremist infiltration, a concern previously voiced by Senator Pauline Hanson.
Senator Hanson recently commented on Nine's Inside Politics podcast that the party had closed down four branches due to concerns about infiltration by far-right members. The presence of an official with Mr Drew's background raises significant questions about the thoroughness of these vetting processes and the party's ability to identify and exclude individuals holding extreme views from positions of influence.
Source: Guardian Australia