Federal Coalition MP Llew O’Brien has declared it’s “encouraging to see a White Australian” win a sprinting medal at the Commonwealth Games, after Lachlan Kennedy took silver when setting a new national record in Glasgow.
O’Brien, the member for Wide Bay in Queensland, wrote on social media on Wednesday: “White Men Can Sprint!”
“Lachlan Kennedy’s performance in the ۱۰۰ metres final at the Commonwealth Games was absolutely outstanding,” the LNP MP said.
“Although he narrowly missed gold by just two hundredths of a second, his brilliant ۹.۸۵ seconds not only broke the long-standing Australian record held by sprinting great Patrick Johnson, it also announced Australia as a genuine force in world sprinting.
“It was also encouraging to see a White Australian compete at this level in one of the world’s premier sprint events.”
O’Brien went on to write that his “observation isn’t intended to diminish the extraordinary achievements of Black athletes, who have dominated elite sprinting for many years”.
“It’s simply an acknowledgement that Australians of every background can take pride in seeing someone who reflects their own heritage succeed at the highest level,” he wrote on Facebook.
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, downplayed the comments from his backbencher, who has previously hosed down speculation he was considering a switch to One Nation.
Taylor, asked about O’Brien’s comments on Thursday, praised the achievements of all Australian athletes.
“I don’t care what their background is,” Taylor told reporters.
“I congratulate all Australians who are competing for Australia and doing well. We want it. We love Australians winning medals. We love Australians succeeding. We always have.”
Kennedy took silver in the ۱۰۰m final behind Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who won the gold in a Commonwealth Games record time of ۹.۸۳ seconds. Bronze was won by Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi, who ran ۹.۹۰.
“There is nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage,” O’Brien said in his social media post.
after newsletter promotion
“Whether you’re Black or White, pride in who you are is good when it doesn’t come at the expense of respect for others. Congratulations to Lachlan, and well done to every athlete who represented Australia in green and gold at the Commonwealth Games.”
O’Brien has a reputation as being somewhat of a maverick. In ۲۰۲۰, he moved a spill motion against then-leader and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, in a bid to allow Barnaby Joyce to contest the leadership.
That motion failed, and O’Brien temporarily split from the Nationals party room.
O’Brien later accepted a nomination from the Labor opposition to serve as the parliament’s deputy speaker, which had been proposed in an attempt to deny the government’s endorsed candidate, the Victorian MP Damian Drum.
There had previously been speculation that O’Brien could follow Joyce and leave the Nationals to join One Nation amid the rise of Pauline Hanson’s party in Queensland and Nationals-held areas of the country.
But O’Brien said in May that he would remain a Nationals member “until I either choose to retire or when the people choose to retire me”.
