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Tony Abbott

Sydney — An independent Australian senator yesterday threatened to physically intimidate Prime Minister Tony Abbott, using illegal rugby tactics including grabbing his testicles, if he does not limit coal-seam gas exploration.

Glenn Lazarus, a former rugby league prop and a senator for the eastern state of Queensland, said he submitted a petition to Abbott calling for health impact assessments, exclusion zones and community consultations over mining developments near residential, agricultural and farming areas.

Lazarus, dubbed the “brick with eyes” in his rugby heyday, added to an anti-CSG protest in Sydney that he was prepared to use a range of tactics on the Australian leader if he does not respond to the community’s concerns.

“I’m prepared to go and squirrel grip, squirrel grip, the prime minister,” Lazarus added, in apparently light-hearted comments.

“If that doesn’t work I’ve got other things up my sleeve, like the grapple tackle, the chicken wing and even the crusher tackle, and if that doesn’t work, I’m prepared to use the Hopoate tactics.”

The “squirrel grip” is a testicle-grabbing tackle, the “chicken wing” involves twisting or bending an opponent’s limbs and the “crusher” is pinning the head of a player against the tackler’s chest. — AFP