The attempted assassination of a former US president should teach Australian politicians a lesson about the consequences of demonising their opponents, a former ambassador says.
During a political rally in Pennsylvania, a series of shots were fired, with one bullet grazing the ear of second-term presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The attack shocked the United States, but former Australian ambassador to the country, Arthur Sinodinos, says it was not unexpected.
“I’m surprised it took this long for something like this to happen,” he said Monday.
‘Given the amount of polarization in America, the amount of smears that are being produced and the attempts by each side to demonize the other, it’s not surprising.
“In recent times, there has been a normalization of very unusual behavior.”
In Australia, compulsory voting, preferential voting and an independent electoral commission have reinforced stability, but Sinodinos says local politicians still have a role to play.
“It’s also a question of leadership character: that people not only say the right thing, but do the right thing,” he said.
A series of shots were fired at a political rally in Pennsylvania, with one bullet grazing the ear of second-term presidential candidate Donald Trump (pictured).
“Hopefully… Australian politicians from all parties will learn the lesson from this.”
“If they try to demonize and dehumanize their opponents, no matter what political side they’re on, you get crazy people who might take that as some kind of indication that they should do something about it.”
Australia’s current ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull denounced the attempted assassination of Trump on social media platform X.
Sinodinos’ predecessor, Joe Hockey, said that while there was a “profound level of shock” that would undoubtedly affect the November presidential election, the attack would not deter President Joe Biden from running again.
“Joe Biden, if he decides not to run now, he’s going to look like a coward, he’s going to look like he’s afraid of the assassin’s bullet,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio on Monday.
Australian political leaders condemned the attempted murder, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying there was heightened concern following the shooting.
Mr Trump raised his fist in the air before he was quickly led off the stage following the shooting.
“It was a shock to the system, we know that increasingly politics in the United States has become very polarised and tragically there is a history, of course, of violence,” he told ABC Radio on Monday.
‘It’s fantastic that in Australia, in general, politicians, including the Prime Minister, can roam around events and walk around safely.
We hope that an angry and divided America will take this terrible moment as a sign to calm down, reset and stabilize. The world’s most important democracy appears to be on the brink of something worse. These times demand leadership, respect and restraint more than ever.
“(Respect for democratic processes) is a good thing we have here, and it’s important that we don’t take it for granted, it’s important that democracy is valued.”
Biden has ordered the nation’s Secret Service to review security measures ahead of the Republican convention.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there was relief that Trump was doing well.
“We’ve seen politics become uglier and more polarised and sadly more violent, and I think a lot of people around the world and in Australia are concerned about those developments,” he told Nine’s Today show on Monday.
“We cannot allow this extreme polarization, this extreme violence, to become normalized in democracies around the world; we are supposed to resolve our differences with votes, not violence.”
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said that while the US had become politically divided, violence was not the solution.
“The point of democracy is that we have the opportunity to express our opinion at the ballot box and that is true in any great democratic nation,” he said.
“We need to re-address this issue and call out this totally unacceptable behaviour clearly and it is not what we ever want to see here in Australia.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Australia could not be complacent about threats to elected officials or candidates.
“While it’s true that we have very different gun safety regulations… there are some worrying signs that there are tendencies to use violent means, in Australia, to try to intimidate MPs and their staff,” he told ABC radio.
“We can’t allow this to happen here.”