Australian leader accuses politicians of soliciting NRA, Koch donations to undermine gun laws

Australia’s prime minister on Tuesday accused an influential political party of soliciting donations from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Koch Industries to undermine gun laws, according to The Associated Press.

“We have reports that One Nation officials basically sought to sell Australia’s gun laws to the highest bidders to a foreign buyer and I find that abhorrent,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

He added that his government had made laws to “criminalize taking foreign political donations so foreign lobbyists cannot seek to influence our politics.”

{mosads}Morrison’s comments come after an Al Jazeera documentary reported that One Nation party officials Steve Dickson and James Ashby flew to the United States in September seeking money to help fund efforts to weaken Australian gun laws.

The documentary used secret recordings from journalist Rodger Muller, who posed as a gun lobbyist.

Dickson and Ashby told reporters that they had not secured any U.S. money and that Al Jazeera had quoted them out of context and often after drinking, according to the AP.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten accused One Nation of a “betrayal of the Australian political system.”

“The idea of One National political party operatives going to the United States, seeking millions of dollars, promising to water-down gun law protection in Australia — that was absolutely horrifying,” Shorten said, according to the AP.

One Nation, an anti-Muslim party with two senators, said in a statement that all party members “have always complied with the law.”

Australia’s rule banning foreign political donations was implemented Jan. 1.

One Nation also claimed Al Jazeera had broken the law by covertly interfering with Australian politics.

“Al Jazeera are a state owned propaganda arm of the Qatari government that supports Islamic extremist groups and are not a legitimate media organization,” the statement said, according to AP.

“One Nation was invited by Rodger Muller, who has now been outed as a foreign agent working for Al Jazeera to meet with the NRA, American business leaders and attend the Congressional Sportsmen’s Dinner.”

Al Jazeera’s manager of investigative journalism told The Hill that One Nation’s criticisms of the outlet were unfounded.

“Al Jazeera is financed by the Qatari government but operates wholly independently. No one from the Government of Qatar has had any role in this production,” Phil Rees said.

“The idea for the investigation came from Peter Charley, the reporter and producer, a 30-year veteran with Australian TV,” he added. “Blaming the messenger rather than addressing the message is always an act of last resort by politicians.”

Rees also responded to the allegation that Muller was a foreign agent, saying he “worked for me and no one else.”

“A few years ago, representatives of the  state-owned anti-gun Al Jazeera network, fraudulently disguised as members of a group called ‘Gun Rights Australia,’ set up meetings with NRA employees and brought members of an Australian political party to those meetings,” NRA spokesman Jennifer Baker said in a statement. “It has been reported that this Australian political party intended to seek funding from the NRA. At no time did the NRA contribute funding to any Australian political party or Gun Rights Australia.”

Updated at 8:18 p.m.