One Nation dumps Roger Barnett for racist remarks online | Alds

One Nation dumped Forrestfield candidate Roger Barnett over comments he made attacking Muslim and Indigenous people, 7News reported.

Mr Barnett then defended his comments, telling the broadcaster he didn’t retract anything he’s said or written and that his comments had been taken “out of context”.

On his Facebook page, he referred to Mirrabooka Shopping Centre as “downtown Syria”.

“I couldn’t find anyone to ask a question when I was in the shopping centre because there was no English-speaking European-looking people,” he wrote.

Defending the controversial comments, Mr Barnett then said on Monday: “My mechanic’s a Muslim, such a great guy.”

In 2012, Mr Barnett made headlines when he slapped a young Indigenous person for misbehaving in a Mandurah McDonald’s.

He had also been fined and charged for hitting his wife with a shoe.

“I slapped my wife with a thong on my 50th birthday because she got drunk and got out of hand,” he said.

“And the way the police treated me that night was as if I’d killed her.”

In another Facebook post, Mr Barnett wrote that he had punched a neighbour “in the snoz” when he wouldn’t turn his music down.

“I stand up for my family n my rights, hail Hitler,” he wrote in another Facebook post, The West Australian reported.

Mr Barnett also said he thought all Muslims lived in “mud houses”.

He also posted about being stuck in traffic on the Forrest Highway after a car crash.

“The only relief will be if it’s bunch of Muslims,” he wrote.

One Nation WA president Rod Caddies called Mr Barnett’s comments “insensitive, senseless and stupid” and said his party “in no way endorses hatred or violence towards another person”.

“Although Mr Barnett regrets the posts, says he no longer holds those views and did not express those views during preselection, he would never have been endorsed if One Nation had been aware of the posts at his time of preselection,” he said.