May 10, 2014 9:25am by David Farrar

Nastiness in Australia

The Electrical Trades Union has apologised for comparing Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to Adolf Hitler.

The apology comes after an image published on the union’s newsletter infuriated Jewish groups who condemned the protrayal.

The ETU released a brief statement on Friday (local time) apologising for the newsletter and pulled the offending article from its Facebook page.

“The ETU sincerely and unreservedly apologises,” the statement said.

“The theme of the magazine was to show the demonisation of unions has had a long history.”

The cover of the autumn newsletter for the Victorian branch of the ETU has used a digitally altered picture of Tony Abbott, complete with a tiny moustache and a tattoo on his chest similar to the Third Reich eagle.

In the picture, Mr Abbott is portrayed wearing a white singlet, gold necklace and smoking a cigarette under the headline “The Abbott crimes”. The back page of the newsletter has a large picture of Hitler with two anti-union quotes attributed to the dictator and Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi head of propaganda.

The ETU was a major donor to the Australian Green Party. In 2013 they donated $300,000 for just one seat – Melbourne, held by the Greens. In 2010 they gave $325,000 to the Greens.