One Nation leader demands end to multiculturalism, calls climate change a hoax in National Press Club speech
Updated ,first published
Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech to the National Press Club outlined plans to restrict Muslim immigration, end multiculturalism and undermine the government’s climate change department; The One Nation leader has claimed four of Australia’s closest allies are “absolute scumbags”.
Hanson began his apology speech on Wednesday by identifying immigration and housing affordability as the two most pressing issues facing the country and insisted Australia “cannot be a multicultural society”.
“We are a multi-racial society, but we must be monocultural,” he said, as he attacked the assembled media for continuing to “repeat the lie that we are a racist party”.
Hanson, supported by One Nation senators Malcolm Roberts, Sean Bell and Tyron Whitten, and star defector Barnaby Joyce, approached his question-and-answer session with Canberra press gallery journalists with defiance and sometimes outright hostility, saying they were part of the problem, along with incompetent government ministers and a lazy and bloated civil service.
The speech, Hanson’s first to the press club in 30 years in politics, came after primary support for One Nation had surpassed Labor and the Coalition in polls and Hanson was named the preferred prime minister in the election. Latest Resolve Political Monitor.
The speech was briefly interrupted by a demonstration banner erected by the activist group GetUp, which opened behind the leader as he spoke. The press club forwarded footage of the incident to the federal police and apologized to Hanson, who paused briefly to look at the banner before continuing his speech.
Asked whether Australia was in danger of being overwhelmed by Muslim immigrants, as he claimed was the case with Asian immigration in the 1990s, Hanson said: “Not unless I have any say in the matter.
“Radical Islam is the biggest concern for me… I think there are 18,000 people on ASIO watch lists at the moment and probably 220 of them are very serious. [cases]In such a country? What about… what happened in Bondi, which I mentioned earlier. We can’t keep up with the staff to keep an eye on these people. “I’m not apologizing for anything, and I’ve seen so much footage on our televisions of what’s going on in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, they’re all just…shit.”
It’s unclear what the source of Hanson’s claim about the watch list is. ASIO has previously stated that there is no watchlist tally.
Hanson has vowed to shut down multicultural broadcaster SBS and make ABC subscription only in capital cities. He also promised to close government departments, including “the climate change department, the Aboriginal department” and parts of the education and health departments.
The money saved from scrapping these services will come into consolidated revenue, the club said.
“We are all treated equally as Australians, based on individual needs, not race, and with that said, yes, that money will go into consolidated revenue where any Australian who needs help can get that help.”
Hanson also spoke out against the “global warming hoax”, which he blamed on rising energy costs, and said he would cancel all subsidies for renewable energy projects.
On nuclear energy, he said the Coalition had made a mistake by committing to seven power plants and would only build them when needed. Barnaby Joyce was a big supporter of nuclear energy when he was at Nationals.
“No more wind turbines will be installed; they will be scrapped,” Hanson said. “There are no more solar panels on farmland; it’s gone. Put that on your roofs. I don’t care. Coal-fired power stations, yes. We’ve got to have one in South Australia and one in Queensland to provide the electricity we need. And then we go from there and put in a reactor. Start with one. It all depends on whether you can afford it.”
The United Nations science agency Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming, which raises atmospheric temperatures and increases extreme weather conditions. The findings are subject to more than 2,000 independent scientific reviewers.
While the coalition has withdrawn support for the net zero target, the other major parties still agree that human-caused climate change is real.
Hanson said the childcare system and industrial relations system needed a complete overhaul and reiterated his opposition to giving workers pay rises, arguing that businesses had told him employees were lazy and too difficult to fire.
“You have to look at the other side of the ledger. Can businesses afford it and pay it? I understand it’s a struggle for people to be able to afford it and pay their bills, but there needs to be a balance,” he said.
“I can assure you there needs to be a complete overhaul of industrial relations because it’s not working.”
When asked about her stance on abortion, Hanson said, “I’m not against people and circumstances, women need to have abortions for medical reasons in some cases. I would rather educate women about using birth control methods than having abortions; there are already too many abortions in this country.”
Asked earlier in the day whether One Nation was fit to govern, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the party was “opposed to all the cost-of-living measures my government has introduced” and noted that he had watched an interview “in which the One Nation leader talked about making it easier to fire people and was concerned about minimum wage increases”.
Greens leader Larissa Waters described Hanson’s speech as “incoherent hatred”.
“Pauline Hanson’s incoherent hatred today offered nothing more than the same tired Islamophobia, transphobia, racism and fossil fuel conservation blackmail we’ve heard from her for decades.
“Pauline Hanson wants Australians to be angry, divided and afraid of our neighbours. This is an ugly and racist diversion from her servitude to the same billionaires and corporate superprofits as the major parties.”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also asked whether Hanson was fit for government when interviewed on Darwin radio station Mix 104.
“Are they fit to govern? Do they have a credible plan for the country? And what we see today is a member of One Nation saying the United States is the ‘worst terrorist organization in the world.’ I mean, seriously?”
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James Massola is the chief political commentator. He was previously national affairs editor and Southeast Asia correspondent. He won the Quill and Kennedy awards and was a Walkley finalist. Connect securely to Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect with: X or email.
