US President Barack Obama has praised the #illridewithyou social media movement during a phone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the same time that one of the Prime Minister's own backbenchers derided the idea as a "pathetic", "hating-whitey" campaign.
The #illridewithyou hashtag encourages Australians to accompany Muslim women in public spaces should they be worried about being attacked in response to the fatal Sydney siege.
A young Brisbane woman, Rachael Jacobs, inspired the campaign after posting a moving Facebook status about her encounter with a Muslim woman earlier on the day that hostages were trapped inside the Lindt Chocolat Café at Sydney's Martin Place.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was among high profile politicians who tweeted in support of the idea. A cross-party group of parliamentarians including Liberal MP Craig Laundy and Palmer United Senator Dio Wang then adapted the idea into their own #WeRideWithYou campaign.
Mr Obama was one of many world leaders to phone Mr Abbott following the tragedy. In a statement, the White House said he noted "the Australian public's embrace of #Illridewithyou and the Muslim leaders who have disavowed the actions of the hostage taker" and "praised Australia's rejection of any violence taken in the name of religion and the fear this violence seeks to stoke".
But at the same time, Mr Abbott's outspoken Queensland backbencher George Christensen was ridiculing both campaigns - including the one backed by his own colleague - in a series of tweets.
#illridewithyou is a typical pathetic left wing black arm band brigade campaign, casting Aussies as racists who will endanger Muslims. — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP)
December 17, 2014
#weridetogether &
#illridewithyou are typical lefty campaigns that falsely portrays Aussies as thugs who endanger Muslims. — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP)
December 17, 2014
#weridetogether &
#illridewithyou - typical lefty campaigns that creates false victims. Focus on real
#sydneysiege victims: Tori & Katrina. — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP)
December 17, 2014
As I suspected. The
#illridewithyou campaign is proudly brought to us by another
#hatingwhitey lefty activist.
http://t.co/App0f9EQzd — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP)
December 17, 2014
Goodnight, lefty twitter warriors. You promote tolerance as virtue of all virtues yet you sure are intolerant of those with opposing views. — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP)
December 17, 2014
Just want to distance myself from comments by @GChristensenMP . Completely insensitive and ignorant of the motive #illridewithyou — Ewen Jones MP (@EwenJonesMP) December 17, 2014
Mr Christensen did not retreat from his online comments when contacted on Thursday.
"It's not just tokenistic, I'll Ride With You has been designed to do something, it's been designed to take away focus from radical Islam, there's a whole heap of people who can see that and there's a whole heap of people who can't and that says something about how pervasive political correctness has become in Australia," he told Fairfax Media.
"Either we start talking about this problem and allow a national debate or there's going to be a groundswell of support for some Pauline Hanson-type of person who says we should close down all mosques.
"It won't take too many more incidents like this for the groundswell to rise up and then you'll have the Geert Wilders-type political response. When you bottle up a legitimate frustration or legitimate concern, that's what you trigger and I'm saying lets have the conversation [about] radical Islam rather than people saying 'don't even mention the 'I' word because if you do someone will get bashed up on a bus'."
Queensland Liberal backbencher Ewen Jones, who is good friends with Mr Christensen, said he was reluctant to comment because he did not want to perpetuate his colleague's comments but felt compelled to do so because the views were wrong.
"Actions like that have to be called out otherwise everyone thinks all white Australia is like that," Mr Jones told Fairfax Media. "This isn't about white Australia, this about Australia. This is not about George Christensen or the political class, this is about the country.
"At times like this, I understand it's very hard not to hate and not judge an entire religion and I understand that but you cannot go around making statements like that thinking good will come out of them."
