Men At Work frontman Colin Hay has slammed South Australian senator Cory Bernardi's attempt to start his own Hottest 100 playlist.
Senator Bernardi, who leads the Australian Conservatives Party, is asking people to vote in what he has termed an "alternate Hottest 100", following triple j's decision to change the date of its annual music poll from Australia Day.
But Hay, whose song Down Under is first on Senator Bernardi's Spotify list, said the meaning of his song had been hijacked by the politician's poll.
"It would appear that the true meaning behind Down Under is lost on Mr Bernardi," he said.
"When the lyrics were written some 40 years ago, I was worried about people like him, and movements he represents. Turns out I had good reason to be."
Hay's hit track Down Under reached number one on the Australian, US and UK Charts. He urged Senator Bernardi to reconsider his party's poll.
"May I suggest Mr Bernardi, if you haven't already, dabbling in some light hallucinogens. Wander into a field, and sit in front of a tree, and look at it, really study it, at a molecular level," he said.
"It may not change your conservative views, but it may make you realise you're not quite as important as you think you are."
A number of musicians included in the list have protested against the playlist, including Savage Garden's Darren Hayes, Jimmy Barnes, Powderfinger and the Hilltop Hoods.
But Senator Bernardi is unapologetic and claimed the outrage would only lead more people to participate in his poll.
"I suspect a great many more people have voted in the poll, and will listen to it, because of the outrage the industry that have attached themselves to it," he told 7.30.
"It's preposterous they [musicians] draw attention to something they pretend they don't want to endorse.
"This is the modern take on politics, that you have to be tolerant of everyone else's ideas unless you disagree with them."
The senator said he did not mind the criticism from those in the industry.
"They may not like my politics, I don't like their politics. That's OK," he said.
"I can still recognise their artistic talent and artistic craft and most Australians have no place, or don't have any time for moral lectures or virtue-signalling from people in an industry that has a very chequered history."
