Newly sworn-in Liberal senator and former military general Jim Molan has condemned the anti-immigration group Britain First as an "appalling organisation", but maintains he did nothing wrong by sharing some of their videos on Facebook.
Senator Molan, who recently occupied the Upper House seat vacated by Fiona Nash, shared the videos on his Facebook account in March last year.
Fairfax Media uncovered the videos and reported them on Monday. One is titled 'Muslim Thugs Beat Girl in Holland', while a second claims to show Muslim men attacking French police cars.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten condemned the sharing of the videos.
"I think it was probably unwise to share these videos, they are repugnant," Mr Shorten told reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday.
Greens senator Nick McKim tweeted Senator Molan was "a blatant racist who brags about the cruelty of offshore detention, and revels in trampling rights and freedoms".
The retired major-general, who helped design the former Abbott Government's 'Sovereign Borders' crackdown on asylum seeker boats, has strongly denied accusations of racism, claiming he was not aware Britain First was an anti-Islam group at the time.
"I don’t endorse Britain First, Britain First is an appalling organisation," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.
Senator Molan said he shared the videos to raise awareness of "violent and anti-social" behaviour, rather than to encourage anti-Islamic sentiment.
"Anyone who thinks I am anti-Islamic or racist ... [is] stark raving mad," he said.
The senator also said he had "long since given up" on using Facebook to communicate.
In an earlier defence on Monday evening, Senator Molan said his military history proved he was not a racist.
"I fought for Muslims in Iraq and many Iraqis were alive when I left because of the actions I took," he said.
"I've had many Muslim friends through periods of intense conflict."
Last month, US President Donald Trump apologised for retweeting Britain First videos, claiming he didn't know who the group was.
Senator Molan said he had shared the clips long before Mr Trump had brought the group to the world's attention.
While the authenticity of the videos has been disputed, Senator Molan invited his upper house colleagues to draw their own conclusions.
"To me they look to this day very, very real," he said.
- with wires
