Jimmy Barnes Told Us His Thoughts On Reclaim Australia: "Who Are They Reclaiming It From?"

Barnsey drops some knowledge.

Last year, iconic Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes found out Reclaim Australia had been using Cold Chisel’s “Khe Sanh” at their rallies. He didn’t love it.

Barnsey responded with a Facebook post saying “none of these people represent me and I do not support them”. (Farnsey similarly distanced himself after hearing Reclaim Australia was also playing “You’re The Voice”. Both songs, by the way, are still bangers to this day.)

Almost eighteen months later, Reclaim Australia is still making headlines, though none positive. It was revealed this week that ASIO is indeed monitoring the radical right wing group for the "possibility of violence".

Jimmy Barnes, on the other hand, is on the tip of everyone’s tongues again for all the right reasons. His just-released book Working Class Boy just topped the charts, making him a best-selling author, and his recent appearance on Q&A showed him advocating passionately for marriage equality.

On that same episode, he spoke about the death threats he received in response to his Reclaim Australia diss. Not that they’re keeping him quiet.

We caught up with Jimmy recently to talk about his new book, Working Class Boy, and he shared with us his experiences as a young immigrant coming to Australia from Glasgow, Scotland.

Barnsey also reiterated his feelings about Reclaim Australia, and anyone else hoping to spout hate speech.

“Free speech comes with responsibility and there’s a big difference between free speech and hate speech,” he said.

“I’m happy for people to say what they feel, as long as it’s not hateful, as long as it’s not ignorant, and as long as they don’t use my songs to do it.”

Check out our chat below – and keep your eyes peeled for a longer interview in the very near future!

Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes is out now from HarperCollins. His live show “Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories & Songs” tours theaters nationally in November/December. Further info at www.jimmybarnes.com

Photo: Student Edge.