Calls are growing for a controversial British activist to be banned from travelling to Australia to speak at a conservative conference.
Transgender critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull made headlines in March 2023 when she headlined the Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne.
A group of men dressed in black stormed into the event and performed the Hitler salute from the steps of the Victorian state parliament building.
A petition calling Ms Keen-Minshull an “anti-transgender activist” and hoping she will be banned from returning to Australia had gathered more than 3,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.
“Last year, despite massive public protest, anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (aka Posie Parker) was allowed to travel to the country to host a national tour focusing on the human rights of the transgender and gender diverse community,” the petition reads.
‘It has just been announced that she plans to return to Australia to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane on October 5-6.
“We know that if she is allowed to come here again, she will use it as an opportunity to express her hateful, exclusionary and disgusting views.”
Last May, Opposition Leader John Pesutto settled libel cases against Ms Keen-Minshull and Australian Angie Jones over comments he made about them at last year’s rally.
There are growing calls to ban controversial British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (pictured) from coming to Australia to speak at a conservative conference
In a “full and generous” apology, Mr Pesutto said he “never believed or intended to imply that Kellie-Jay Keen and Angela Jones are neo-Nazis”.
‘I agree with them that genuine community concerns about women’s safety and their access to women-only spaces, services and sport warrant meaningful public discussion.
“My comments may have been misunderstood… I apologize for any pain, distress or harm caused,” he said.
Mrs Keen-Minshull accepted his apology in a statement posted on YouTube at the time.
But Mr Pesutto is currently fighting another case related to the Let Women Speak demonstration.
Victorian MP Moira Deeming is suing him over comments he made about her attendance at the meeting.
The former Liberal and now independent MP claims Pesutto falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser after she gave a speech at the rally on March 18, 2023.
Mr Pesutto’s lawyer, Dr Matthew Collins KC, asked Ms Deeming whether comments Ms Keen-Minshull made at the meeting ‘about women not being able to have a penis’ were provocative and controversial.
“There is absolutely no dispute that those things were said at the Let Women Speak meeting. That is literally what we all came to say,” Ms Deeming replied.
She was also questioned about the demonstration’s possible links to neo-Nazi groups.
Ms Deeming said comments from keyboard warriors calling her a Nazi or fascist did not stop her from attending the women’s rights demonstration.
She said she saw the derogatory comments as attempts to provoke her, rather than genuine concerns about her interactions with those attending the rally.
Footage of the rally, showing a line of black-clad men repeatedly giving the Hitler salute, and numerous tweets about the event were shown to the court.
Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (pictured) is branded an ‘anti-transgender campaigner’ in petition
Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell is seen as Nazi and transgender rights advocates face off during a protest in Melbourne, Saturday, March 18, 2023
Ms Deeming said she had never seen ‘that footage’ of the Hitler salute and wondered why the group had not been arrested by police.
The petition about Ms Keen-Minshull called on Home Secretary Tony Burke to ‘use his powers under the Migration Act to deny her entry to Australia.
“We know we can make this happen because in 2019 the government denied entry to far-right ideologue Milo Yiannopoulos on the grounds of his character,” it reads.
“If we can make enough noise, we can force the government to take action again.”
