Trumpism, but make it Australian: One Nation’s migration fantasy

Borrowing Trump’s rhetoric and ignoring Australian law, One Nation offers fear, fantasy and cruelty rather than workable immigration policy, writes Dr Abul Rizvi.

WITH ONE NATION resurrected in surveys, Mike Seccombe for Saturday Newspaper I spoke Pauline Hansonchief of staff, James Ashby. Unsurprisingly, after this Bondi massacreAshby focused on ending immigration from Muslim countries.

Although he did not give clear information about which nations they were, he said the following:

“The Trump list is a very, very good and clear list that other countries, like Australia, should examine as well.”

Trump’s list The 75 countries where visas have been suspended do not include India, where the older of the two Bondi terrorists is from and where their son was born in Australia.

The suspension of visa procedures by the United States for 75 countries (including non-Muslim majority countries such as Nepal and Fiji) was carried out in accordance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump. Although it is not clear whether the President’s Decision is legal (it will be challenged in the courts), Australia’s immigration system works on the following basis: Immigration Law The Minister of Immigration derives his authority from here.

of Australia Immigration Law It does not include the power to suspend visa procedures in selected countries. There is the power to suspend visa procedures for certain visa classes (p85), but this authority does not include determining countries where visa procedures may be suspended. This would be contrary to the non-discriminatory nature of Australia’s immigration policy. To provide this power, the Act would need to be amended, which would likely be contrary to the Act. Racial Discrimination Act.

It is also noteworthy that p116 of Australia Constitution It prohibits the government from making any laws that discriminate between different religions.

Ashby justifies One Nation’s anti-Muslim policy on the following grounds:

“We know absolutely that Islamic terrorism was allowed into the country because we have proper background checks on some of these people. Extremism is alive and well. We know this because there were at least 200 people on ASIO’s terrorism watch list and guess what? They all come from the same ideology, the same hateful religious ideology that is being cultivated in some countries around the world.”

The more than 200 people Ashby mentions are not limited to Muslims, as he claims. Reports in the Murdoch Press 35 percent of more than 200 people ‘religiously motivated’. There was another 40 percent ‘ideologically motivated’. The second group would include neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and sovereign citizens, many of whom might be inclined to vote for One Nation given its policies.

The majority of the 200-plus would have been born in Australia. The vast majority will be Australian citizens rather than having a visa. If they had a visa, the Government would have taken action to cancel their visas by now using existing provisions. s501 between Immigration Law.

Ashby expresses concern that the investigation is inadequate, but like Trump, offers no evidence to support where the investigation is inadequate. You may or may not know that nations in the Middle East and North Africa have significantly higher visa denial rates than nations in many other parts of the world. We don’t know how much of this is due to security concerns or other factors.

But if One Nation is concerned about inadequate scrutiny or the Government’s failure to revoke the visas of people on ASIO’s watch list, why would it oppose the recent decision? Draft Law on Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism? One of the specific aims of the Bill is to allow the Government to more easily refuse or cancel visas for members of certain hate groups. Does this sound like exactly the kind of “proper review” Ashby was referring to?

There are two hate groups being discussed in the media for possible listing. Hizb ut Tahrir and various neo-Nazi groups. Did One Nation oppose the bill because it was concerned about the possible listing of neo-Nazi groups, or could much of One Nation’s language and actions, especially at anti-immigration marches attended by neo-Nazis, be interpreted as hate speech?

Transport levels

On immigration levels, Ashby reportedly said One Nation wanted to halve its total immigration intake to 130,000. He is probably referring to net migration, estimated by the Treasury at 260,000 in 2025-26.

However, Ashby also says:

“Effectively, 130,000 are just replacing the people we lost – net zero, although I hate to use that term.”

It’s unclear what Ashby meant. “It replaces the people we lost.”. Does he mean deaths, which are 185,700 in 2024-25? Not likely. Does he mean net migration movements of 262,800 in 2024-25? Again, very unlikely.

Does Ashby mean the natural increase of 114,556 in 2024-25? However, we cannot be talking about natural increase, because adding the net migration of 130,000 people results in a population increase of around 245,000. “net zero”. Does he think that natural increase in Australia, as in many developed countries, is a negative?

Of One Nation website It means limiting visas to 130,000 per year. No statement was made about which visa types the ceiling would be applied to. The Australian Government issues more than half a million visas each month, so it is unlikely One Nation will cap all visas at 130,000.

Even though the One Nation Party has been bragging about immigration for decades, I suspect they have no idea what they’re talking about (and don’t really care) as long as their followers hear the anti-immigration and anti-Muslim message.

mass deportation

One Nation’s top priority list of immigration policies It is a mass exile.

The website states that the One Nation government will:

‘Deport 75,000 illegal immigrants because Australia’s immigration laws need to be enforced, not ignored.’

Immigration compliance and deportation are an important part of an effective visa system. when was i surprised Peter Dutton and Secretary Mike Pezzullo castrated immigration compliance function. The Labor Government has restored some of the immigration integration resources that Dutton and Pezzullo had cut.

Much more needs to be done in this area. But this requires clear and achievable goals, careful planning, highly trained compliance officers, expanded detention facilities, legal decision-making, and a very significant increase in resources. There is little evidence that Hanson understood what happened. He may be watching with envy the chaos brought about by Trump’s mass deportation policy.

Actually, the website states:

‘If you want Trump’s action and style, this is the only nation you need.’

As Australians learn more about the disasters and deaths Trump has presided over through his militaristic policy of mass deportation, they may become less enthusiastic about Hanson’s rhetoric of mass deportation.

Doctor Abul Rizvi He is an independent Australian columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Immigration Service. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.

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