Last week, Senator Fraser Anning moved a motion for pepper spray, mace and tasers to be legalised, to allow women to protect themselves against violence.

The motion to relax regulation around the non-lethal weapons comes amid a backdrop of new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. They suggest there were some 24, 957 sexual assault victims in 2017.

The motion was defeated 46-5, with Labor’s Anthony Chisholm calling the proposal “ ludicrous,”

But Anning has told Luke Grant he stands by the suggestion.

“Many of our most vulnerable work late at night,” Anning explains.

“The women in hospitality, nursing, shift workers, they have to go to their cars or walk home. They are being attacked at a great rate, 24,000 people.

“All I’m saying is why on earth should they not be allowed to have some sort of protection, rather than just become another one of those victims?”

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