- Failed politician appeared in Queensland court
A failed political candidate accused of giving a Nazi salute during a Welcome to Country at an AFL semi-final has allegedly been caught repeating the act.
Queensland man Tylere Baker-Pearce, 39, allegedly performed the salute during the opening of the Brisbane Lions match at the Gabba on September 13.
The incident scored the footy fan a lifetime ban from all major sporting facilities in the state and criminal charges for the alleged public display of a Nazi salute, an offence punishable by up to five years in prison.
Police allege Baker-Pearce failed to learn his lesson and performed the salute a second time on the day of the semi-final, minutes after being released from the Brisbane watchhouse on the first charge.
During a brief appearance in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, Baker-Pearce said he was a disability support pensioner who also volunteered at a charity organisation.
He did not enter a plea to the initial charge and was granted bail to reappear on October 17.
Tylere Baker-Pearce (pictured) is led to the Brisbane watchhouse after allegedly making a second Nazi salute
He allegedly performed the first salute during the Welcome to Country at the Lions vs Suns match at the Gabba on September 13 (regular AFL Welcome celebrant Uncle Colin Hunter Jr is pictured)
Baker-Pearce denied ever making the salute and said he was unsure why he’d been charged
However, detectives were waiting when he left the court.
Baker-Pearce was whisked away to an interview room, arrested and marched under police escort to the watchhouse, where he was hit with the new charge over the second alleged salute.
Outside the court, he denied ever making the Nazi salute and said he was unsure why he had been charged.
‘I’m innocent,’ Baker-Pearce said.
‘I’m a loyal Australian patriot.’
Baker-Pearce has twice run as an independent in state elections for Narre Warren South in Victoria in 2022 and Surfers Paradise in Queensland in 2017.
Federal Labor MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, was publicly critical of Baker-Pearce’s political tilt during the 2022 state election campaign and the Liberals’ decision to put him before Labor on how-to-vote cards.
‘This is a man who has stood outside Auschwitz-Birkenau taking a selfie, smiling and putting a hot emoji on it,’ Mr Burns told parliament.
‘He has a long history of vile, anti-Semitic remarks … but the Liberal Party decided to grant this neo-Nazi their support in the election.’
