One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts ‘in two minds’ about whether gay people should be equal

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts told a conference earlier this year that he was in “two minds” about whether gay people should have equal rights.

In footage from June’s Church and State conference, released on Sunday, the senator can be seen responding to a question about James Ashby, the party’s director, who is gay.

Both Roberts and the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, appeared at the conservative Christian conference.

In the footage, Roberts described Ashby as bright, honest and straight.

“Well, straight in one way,” he joked.

An audience member then asked Roberts what Christians should think about Ashby.

Roberts responded by referring to the late American bishop and gay rights advocate John Shelby Spong, citing him as saying that after women and black people were no longer recognised as “inferior”, gay people were next.

“Now I’m in two minds about that,” Roberts said. “So I haven’t got a firm position on it myself other than I don’t, I’m not homosexual and I can’t, I can’t understand it.

“But there have been a number of homosexuals who are very, very prominent in many, many fields throughout history. So all I know is that in this environment, James is not morally sound. But from what I’ve seen of him, his honesty, his integrity, his ability, he is sound.

“So if you pardon me, I haven’t made up my mind, but there are a number of people in society in very prominent positions in the arts, sports, science, business, politics, who are homosexual.

“And I don’t think we can afford to ban them. So it’s difficult.”

The chief executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, said it was “genuinely shocking” that a One Nation senator would talk about “banning” people.

“As though something so incompatible with a democratic society could be an acceptable option,” she said.

“The idea that One Nation or its senators think that this could be an idea that’s on the table, or even a matter of legitimate debate, is incredibly chilling.

“And perhaps it’s worth reminding the senator that being gay and a person of deep faith are not mutually exclusive, and neither makes someone any more or less morally sound.”

The organiser of the conference, Dave Pellowe, said in the same forum that “loud, screaming activists” had held American medical health professions to ransom “until they capitulated to delisting same-sex attraction as something that needed treatment, as an illness”.

Roberts is also seen in the footage vowing to push for the party to adopt a blanket abortion ban, contradicting Hanson’s position.

He also said he would push for the party to claim that life begins at conception.

In an Instagram post from earlier this year, also from the conference, Hanson can be seen saying she “had to have a conversation” with the Farrer MP, David Farley, after he commented that the current immigration intake of 306,000 was “probably not” too much.

As leader she sometimes had to “call the shots”, she said in the latest footage.

Since Farley’s migration comments, there have been multiple contradictions and changes in the anti-immigration party’s policy.

Church and State describes itself as a “Christian political education ministry” teaching people to look at political issues and candidates through the lens of Scripture.

One Nation representatives have made frequent comments about homosexuality on other occasions.

Earlier this month, the MP Barnaby Joyce described One Nation as “one of the gayest parties in Australia” after its failed candidate Parminder Singh described homosexuality as a mental illness.

Hanson then said she didn’t like the Mardi Gras and that “your own personal sexuality should be kept behind closed doors”.

Ashby has said as a “gay bloke” he doesn’t like the rainbow flag.

Jason Virgo, who is gay, was elected as a One Nation MP in the South Australian election in March, while his newly elected colleague in the upper house, Cory Bernardi, said he stood by his 2012 comments linking same-sex marriage to polygamy and bestiality.

In the Church and State footage, Roberts also discussed various conspiracy theories and said family law changes made since 1975 – including the introduction of no-fault divorce – were “tearing apart this country”.

“It’s deliberate because they’re after the family. They’re after anything that can stand up to communism,” he said.

Malcolm Roberts, James Ashby and One Nation did not respond to a request for comment.