A former Special Air Services commander turned conservative Christian commentator has conceded that a tweet he made attacking homosexuals and Muslims was ill-timed on Anzac Day.
Jim Wallace, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby and a one-time SAS commander, used Twitter on Monday to say: “Just hope that as we remember servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for – wasn’t gay marriage and Islamic!”
Followers of Mr Wallace soon attacked him. SeandBlogonaut said Mr Wallace was “despicable”. “Using ANZAC Day to push your anti-gay, anti-muslim agenda – you are truly a despicable individual,” he tweeted. Others declared him a “bigot”, “homophobe in disgrace” and an “A-grade douchebag”.
Mr Wallace later issued a statement where he said he made the comments after he had been sitting with his 96-year-old father, a World War II veteran. “My ill timed tweet was a comment on the nature of the Australia he had fought for, and the need to honour that in the way we preserve it into the future,” he said in a statement on Monday.