Queensland Senator Fraser Anning is under increasing pressure to pay for his travel to Melbourne for a right-wing extremists' rally, instead of charging taxpayers for the trip.
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Both sides of politics have slammed the independent senator's presence at the Saturday event, from which images have emerged of people making Nazi gestures.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the Queenslander two days after the rally, saying he had associated himself with "extreme and offensive racist views that have no place in our society".
"Australians are not anti migrant nor racist," the prime minister said in a statement on Monday.
"Genuine concerns held by fair minded Australians about immigration levels, border protection or law and order should not be used as a cover or be hijacked to push hateful and ugly racist agendas."
Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong called on Mr Morrison stop doing deals with Senator Anning to get legislation through the upper house.
Senator Anning spent $2852.80 on flights to get to the rally, which he says he attended because he's concerned violence by "Sudanese gangs" is spreading across Australia, including to Queensland.
An online petition urging him to repay his airfares, launched on Sunday, has attracted more than 11,000 signatures, but Senator Anning says he was acting on behalf of his state.
"My job is to represent my constituents. That's exactly what I did," he told ABC Radio National's AM on Monday.
Immigration Minister David Coleman says it is "morally wrong" for the senator to have attended the rally.
Senator Anning is adamant he was among ordinary, working Australians at the rally he attended, rather than radicals or skin heads.
"There were no Nazi salutes and there was nothing to do with Nazi racist remarks," he said.
He cited media and some police reports of "Sudanese gangs" as evidence of a problem, but Queensland Police last month said there was no such issue.
Senator Anning sits as an independent after splitting with both Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Bob Katter's Australian Party since entering parliament in November 2017.
The Queenslander attended the St Kilda beach rally alongside its organisers, convicted criminals Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson.
The Business Council of Australia condemned the "racist demonstrations", joining politicians in celebrating the success of the nation's migration program.
Several hundred people attended the rally, which Cottrell and Erikson claim was a response to recent incidents in which youths have mugged people along the bay.
A counter-protest was also staged by anti-racism campaigners, with three people arrested at the duelling events.
Australian Associated Press
