Police clear Victorian MP who told protesters that Daniel Andrews should become ‘red mist’
Police have cleared the Victorian upper house MP Catherine Cumming of inciteful behaviour after she told a crowd of protesters that the premier, Daniel Andrews, should be turned into “red mist”.
Cumming, who is running for the Angry Victorians party at the state election, made the comments during a speech at a protest outside Flinders Street station on Saturday afternoon.
“I joined the Angry Victorian partys for one reason – to make Daniel Andrews turn into red mist,” she told the crowd.
“In the army, we would call it pink mist, but I want him into red mist. Give anyone here in the army a job to blow someone up, and they will.”Pink mist is a military term used to describe the blood that comes out of a sniper’s target when they are hit. Cumming was a member of the Australian Army Reserve for 10 years, serving as a medic.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Cumming later told reporters her comments referred to the Labor “red shirts” scandal, where almost $400,000 of public funds were misused by the party for political purposes.
She also issued a statement saying she did not intend to “infer [sic] any physical harm to [Andrews] or anyone”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Victoria police said it had completed its assessment of the comments made by Cumming and “determined that no offence has been committed”.
“Victoria police will not be taking the matter any further,” a spokesperson said.
Cumming’s comments prompted a strong rebuke from Andrews, who said Victorians “deserve better”.
“We’re much better than violent extremism. We ought to leave that to the United States. This is not America, and I for one will do nothing to contribute to the Americanisation of our politics,” Andrews told reporters on Sunday.
The Liberal leader, Matthew Guy, also condemned the remarks in the “strongest possible terms”.
“Statements and language like this have no place in our state, or nation. Dr Cumming should withdraw those remarks immediately and apologise unreservedly,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
A former Maribyrnong city councillor, Cumming was elected in 2018 as a member of the Derryn Hinch’s Justice party in the Western Metropolitan region but became an independent soon after.