Updated ,first published
A fundraiser for One Nation in Melbourne on Friday night has been moved to a new, secret location after anti-racism protesters vowed to demonstrate outside the venue.
Victoria Police confirmed that Giorgio Casa, the Italian restaurant in Moonee Ponds that was initially due to host the cocktail party on Friday night, had cancelled the event, but police said they were not aware of any threats made against the venue.
“The decision not to hold the event was made by the venue,” police said.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and MP Barnaby Joyce were both set to speak at the soiree, which would have capped off a fundraising blitz for the party in recent days. But instead, the political party was sent searching for a last-minute venue just hours before doors were due to open.
Protesters told this masthead they would gather anyway as planned, given it was unclear if the event was really cancelled.
One Nation did not answer questions from this masthead but later told the ABC the fundraiser would be moved to an undisclosed location because of the planned protests. Hanson touched down in Melbourne on Friday morning.
Joyce said he was not sure what had happened and hoped a version of the event could go ahead. “I’m hoping I’ve arrived at Melbourne, not Pyongyang,” he told 3AW.
He said his party wanted to be able to walk the streets “unmolested” by the left, who he accused of trying to infringe on the parliamentarians’ rights.
“This is the home of AFL and seminal to that is our right and our freedom to have our political discussion. And if we haven’t got that, we’re losing what Australia is,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. If Carlton supporters can walk around with Collingwood supporters and both go to a pub and have a talk to Essendon supporters, then why can’t we have a political event in Melbourne?”
Similar One Nation fundraisers held in other Australian cities this week were also met with protests, including Perth, where hundreds held signs decrying racism and the party itself.
Groups such as No Room for Racism, the Victorian Socialists, and Free Palestine Melbourne had planned to gather near the Melbourne fundraiser 45 minutes before it began “to drive Hanson out”. Online, some far-right figures had spoken of sending their own groups to defend the event.
On Friday afternoon, a spokesman for Giorgio Casa said he was still confirming what had happened with the event plans, after a letter announcing the fundraiser’s cancellation appeared and then disappeared in the venue window around lunchtime.
The fundraiser was billed as an “exclusive evening … and networking event” with senior One Nation leadership, to bring together “business leaders, community figures and supporters seeking a stronger direction for Victoria”.
Omar Hassan, a Victorian Socialist candidate and rally organiser, said protesters had “watched with horror as this far-right, racist party has gained support and prominence”, but would now be “taking our chance to mobilise strongly and let the world know that a party bought and paid for by Gina Rinehart, which votes against wage rises, supports devastating wars overseas and bigotry at home, is not welcome in Melbourne”.
“If Hanson and Joyce are too cowardly to show up tonight, then we will claim that as a victory against racism and the billionaires,” Hassan said.
Moonee Valley City Mayor Rose Iser said she was glad the event would not go ahead in the suburb. “Moonee Valley has welcomed generations of immigrants from the horrors of wars in Europe, Asia and Africa to give their kids and grandkids a peaceful Australian way of life,” she said.
“I welcome the business owners seeing sense and that this particular brand of hate and division is not welcome in Moonee Ponds or Moonee Valley.”
Melbourne has a particular history of protesting against One Nation. Tens of thousands of people flooded Treasury Gardens in 1996 when Hanson was first elected to federal parliament, to stand against the Queensland senator’s anti-immigration rhetoric – including her infamous declaration that Australia was being “swamped by Asians”.
When Hanson formally launched the One Nation party at Dandenong Town Hall in 1997, protests outside the venue turned violent, as demonstrators hurled rotten fruit and bottles at party supporters and clashed with police.
More to come
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Sherryn Groch is a journalist at The Age covering crime. Email her at s.groch@nine.com.au or contact her securely on Signal @SherrynG.70Connect via X or email.