This Brave Nationals MP Understands Racism Because He Used To Get Wedgies In School

The next time you’re confronted with prejudice, spare a thought for poor Nationals MP Andrew Broad. Inspired by Labor’s Anne Aly, who recently spoke in parliament about being called “a dirty Muslim” and “a dirty Arab” by her classmates in primary school, the member for Mallee in rural Victoria has shared his own experiences with bullying and harassment.

Specifically, Broad approached Aly after a press conference and told her: “Hey, I got a wedgie at school.” See guys, Andrew Broad gets it. He’s what kids on the internet would call ‘woke’.

The cringeworthy exchange was captured on camera and later shared by the ABC. In the footage, Aly can be seen laughing awkwardly before explaining to her colleague that having your undies yanked up the crack of your ass for easy laughs isn’t quite the same thing as being targeted for abuse because of your race or religion.

“You didn’t get a wedgie because you’re brown,” she tells Broad, speaking with the weary resignation of someone who is way too used to dealing with this kind of thing. “You didn’t get a wedgie because of racism.”

Aly also revealed that she and her family had received death threats after she spoke out in response to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who caused controversy earlier this week for vilifying Lebanese Muslims and saying that former prime minister Malcolm Fraser had made “a mistake” in inviting “some people” into the country during the 1970s.

“I don’t worry about myself because in this place I am afforded the protections that not many people are afforded,” Aly told parliament. “But these were death threats against my family.”

Yeah, but also, Broad probably got wicked painful Chinese burns when he was a kid. Life’s pretty tough for everyone is what I’m saying.

On a more positive note, here is Anne Aly’s first speech to parliament from back in September. It is very very good.

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Feature image via Facebook/Andrew Broad