Two decades ago, Pauline Hanson prompted outrage when she said that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians in her first speech in parliament.
This week, she has done it again.
As a newly elected senator, Hanson, the leader of the One Nation party, called for an end to Muslim immigration and a ban on the burqa, and she told members of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal Party that she planned to “give them a kick up the backside.”
Photo: Reuters
However, this time, the response from the conservative coalition, led by the Liberal Party, has been carefully calibrated. Although many disagree with Hanson’s far-right stances, the coalition is treading warily: The government may need her vote, and those of her fellow party members, to ensure their bills pass through the splintered upper house.
“Pauline Hanson was elected by the people of Queensland to represent their interests in the senate,” Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said. “She is entitled to her views.”
Bishop, speaking on Wednesday on ABC television after Hanson delivered her first speech in the Senate following national elections on July 2, said that Australians “believe in open debate.”
“I understand there are people who support her views and are concerned about the issues she raised,” Bishop said, adding that she did not agree with many of Hanson’s opinions.
Hanson’s address on Wednesday was her second maiden speech. She was first elected to the House of Representatives 20 years ago, but left in 1998. She founded the One Nation party, and its members, along with seven other independent senators, hold enough sway in the 76-seat Senate to barter with the prime minister.
The problem for Turnbull will be corralling that bloc or working with the opposition Labor Party to pass laws.
“Turnbull’s position is extremely problematic,” said Peter Chen, a political science professor at the University of Sydney. “His strategy, the best one he can come up with, is governing with the support of the Labor Party.”
Before the elections, Turnbull had said that Hanson was not a welcome presence in politics. However, that was before he narrowly scraped back into power.
On Wednesday, senators from the Greens party filed out of the chamber as Hanson spoke.
“In my first speech, in 1996, I said we were in danger of being swamped by Asians,” Hanson said. “Now we are in danger of being swamped by Muslims, who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.”
She said Muslims are “prominent in organized crime, with associated violence and drug dealing.”
“I call for stopping further Muslim immigration and banning the burqa as they have done in many countries around the world,” she said.
The government should prohibit the sale of infrastructure assets to overseas interests, especially Chinese buyers, cut welfare payments and change family law, she said in her wide-ranging speech, which reflected sentiments that often appeal to voters who have tired of Australia’s two mainstream political parties.
When Hanson delivered her speech, Labor Party Senator Penny Wong was absent from the chamber.
“I chose not to attend,” Wong told ABC radio on Thursday. “We, as Australians, should reject the views she puts forward.”
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