Hate filled Foul Mouthed SSM Supporters
The angry, foul-mouthed phone calls to Liberal MP Andrew Hastie’s electorate office started soon after the results of the same-sex marriage survey were declared last Wednesday.
Then came a deluge of abusive emails, tweets and Facebook messages from victorious same-sex marriage advocates that have shocked the usually unflappable Mr Hastie and his staff — some of whom voted Yes in the survey.
Many are furious over Mr Hastie’s controversial decision — flagged months ago — to abstain from voting on the issue in parliament even though his own electorate of Canning, south of Perth, returned a 60 per vote in favour of same-sex marriage. For this he has repeatedly been labelled a “homophobe” and a “coward”.
One anonymous correspondent emailed Mr Hastie’s office: “Listen you f..king maggot. You are there to carry out the wishes of your electorate & not to enforce your own homophobic & bigoted views. Don’t be a c... Vote for it in parliament.”
Even a reporter from a local newspaper expressed her fury with the MP.
“F..k you Hastie,” wrote Rachel Fenner, using her maiden name of Steward, as she shared a story on Facebook by her paper, the Mandurah Coastal Times, about the MP’s decision to abstain from voting.
In a separate comment on Mr Hastie’s Facebook page, Fenner said of the deeply religious MP: “Thank you for letting your imaginary friend and a book of fables written 2000 years ago dictate your actions instead of the people you were voted in to represent.”
Nick Kapirnas also joined the debate on Mr Hastie’s Facebook page. “You are a useless piece of shit Hastie,” he wrote. “You don’t deserve to be in your seat.”
Facebook user Tyron Gore chipped in with: “Hastie is an arrogant bigoted fool who needs to either do the right thing and represent the majority in his electorate or resign as a coward and a failure of a man and politician.”
Others questioned Mr Hastie’s war record and brought up allegations that a soldier under his tactical command in Afghanistan had cut the hands off dead Taliban soldiers during the heat of battle. (Mr Hastie was cleared of any wrongdoing over the incident.)
“Andrew Hastie needs to look deep within his psyche. He’d rather kill another man than kiss them,” wrote Facebook user Alan Gordon.
Mr Hastie declined to comment yesterday. But he has told friends it has been the most brutal week he has experienced since he entered parliament at a by-election in 2015. A spokesman said the MP respected the outcome of the survey, which is why abstaining was the most appropriate action.
