Some of Australia’s most outspoken Trump supporters have exercised restraint in responding to fresh recommendations made by the congressional committee investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol.
On Tuesday morning, the January 6 committee announced it had referred former US president Donald Trump to the US Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. This marks the first time in American history that Congress has done so against a former president.
The January 6 committee, a bipartisan panel of nine, unanimously accused Trump of inciting insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress, and knowingly making false statements to authorities, bringing to an end an 18-month-long probe — as well as putting a dint in the unwavering support for Trump that accompanied it.
In Australia, key figures in conservative politics remained notably tight-lipped, except for a couple of outliers. So far, only the newly elected United Australia Party senator for Victoria, Ralph Babet, has been drawn on the outcome.
He told Crikey he thought the panel was “politically driven” and the referral of criminal charges “largely symbolic in nature”. The outcome, he suggested, could be shrugged off by conservatives in Australia, who he said should “return to their traditional values”.
On whether Trump still has his support: “Trump has not been found guilty of any crime from the [January 6] protest.”
Other key figures in conservative circles across Australia, however, have been less forthcoming. Among them is Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, who just last month was pictured at Trump’s 2024 campaign launch at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The billionaire mining magnate has a long public record of support for Trump. During a speech to guests of Mount Isa’s “National Mining & Related Industries Day” in 2016, Rinehart said the former president’s election win showed promise for America, and urged Australian leaders to follow in his footsteps.
It’s unclear whether her position has changed. She couldn’t be reached by Crikey in time for publication.
The former Liberal National Party senator and ardent Trump fan, Cory Bernardi, was quiet on the news, too. In the weeks after US President Joe Biden’s election win in November 2020, Bernardi hammered down on Trump’s claims of election fraud, following years of support for the former president. He couldn’t be reached by Crikey in time for publication, either.
Several other current and former conservative officeholders with a history of supporting Trump couldn’t be drawn on the January 6 committee’s verdict.
Most notable among them was NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, whose support for Trump on various occasions has been the source of discomfort for his colleagues in NSW Parliament. The premier couldn’t be reached by Crikey in time for publication.
