Pauline Hanson’s Punch-and-Judy act with the Australian media has gone another round outside parliament, with the One Nation leader engaging in a war of words with reporters.
Senator Hanson was proudly showing off her fleet of ‘Fire the Liar’ trucks parked outside the nation’s parliament when a gaggle of journalists trailed behind her. One even narrowly avoided getting hit by a passing bus.
The trucks were paid for by Australians who voluntarily chose to donate $5 million to One Nation’s campaign fund.
But the exchange with the press pack got testy after she was grilled first by a Sky News reporter and then by the ABC’s Clare Armstrong on her call for monoculturalism.
ABC reporter Clare Armstrong pressed Hanson on what monoculture actually means. Picture: Toby Zerna
The One Nation leader arrived with $5 million worth of trucks. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
“We’ve always had multiculturalism rammed down us,’’ Senator Hanson said. “We should be proud of our national identity.”
But when the ABC’s Clare Armstrong started firing questions, Senator Hanson got stroppy.
“In your monoculture, can people speak a different language at home? Can they practice a different religion if they can eat different foods? That is multiculturalism, isn’t it?,’’ the reporter asked.
“Are you from SBS?’’ the reporter was asked. Armstrong responded that she was from the ABC, prompting Senator Hanson to sigh and shake her head.
“I really want to try and understand your version of monoculture,’’ Armstrong continued.
“Howard and Tony Abbott and other leaders around the world have said multiculturalism doesn’t work. Go and research that,’’ Senator Hanson snapped.
“We are one nation. And it should be one language.”
‘Ban the burqa’
Pauline Hanson offered an outline of her views in the Senate this week, pledging to ban the burqa if she is elected Prime Minister and defend the right of Australian women to wear bikinis at the beach.
In a speech to the Senate regarding her calls for an Australian “monoculture,” the One Nation leader dismissed suggestions that she dislikes Italian pasta or Chinese takeaway as “rubbish.”
“You’d be forgiven for thinking I had slaughtered a sacred cow at the National Press Club last week,’’ she said.
“Monoculturalism is virtually all you’ve been able to talk about since that day; it’s exactly what I intended.
“It’s a debate many Australians have been itching to have, so I make no apology for raising it.”
Liberals of playing ‘footsies’ with One Nation
“I’m not the only public figure who has rejected multiculturalism. John Howard said he always had trouble with it. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said multiculturalism had failed,’’ she said.
“Looks like I was way ahead of the political curve when I spoke about these issues in 1996, more than 40 years ago.
“In the past week, the far left have naturally taken my comments into the realm of utter fantasy. I was going to ban foreign food.
“What rubbish, predictable, and pathetic.”
Senator Hanson said she supported people from different backgrounds and cultures, under one flag, and succeeding under the same set of rules.
“Australian monoculture is not exclusive; it is welcoming. It’s an umbrella, which covers all manner of difference,’’ she said.
Pauline Hanson was quick to invoke John Howard’s name in her defence. Picture: AAP Image/Alan Porritt
“It’s not a dirty word. Australia doesn’t drag people kicking and screaming to its shores. People from other places choose to come here. Actually, they’re lining up. They choose to be Australian.
Ms Hanson then cited the experience of Carlos Quaremba MLC, a member of One Nation’s parliamentary team in South Australia.
“When he was a baby, they escaped military junta in Argentina and sought refugee in refuge in Australia. They chose to be Australian, but they didn’t discard their cultural traditions,’’ she said.
Senator Hanson then stumbled several times when attempting to pronounce quintessential, before giving up and observing he was a “bloody Australian”
“Well, he’s a bloody Aussie, still loves his Argentinian barbecues, and wouldn’t give them up for anything. I love them too,’’ she said.
“Increasingly, however, there are people choosing to come to Australia with no intention of becoming Australian or accepting Australian values, customs, traditions, and laws.
“Remember, what sparked the riots in Cronulla?
“Muslims attacking Australian women for wearing bikinis at the beach in a hot Australian summer.”
‘Banned’: Pauline Hanson takes on reporter
Senator Hanson recently rounded on another reporter for asking questions about her daughter, Lee Hanson, declaring she doesn’t believe in nepotism.
The clash kicked off during the question and answer session of her speech at the press club when she was asked about the fact that her daughter was working for an NSW MP despite living in Tasmania, where she is campaigning.
“Senator Hanson, Sarah Martin from The Guardian. Taxpayers are paying more than $150,000 a year for your daughter, Leigh Hanson, to seemingly campaign full-time in Tasmania, while employed as a political adviser for a New South Wales senator, she was asked.
“Did you have any role in appointing her to that position?”
In response, Senator Hanson said the premise of the question was simply wrong.
“Honestly, you never give up. I’ve never seen a person who is such a trashy journalist,” she said.
Guardian journalist Sarah Martin left the press club ‘banned’ by Pauline Hanson.
“You’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party or Mrs Rinehart, whatever you do.
“You will be banned. I’ll answer you this question today, but I’m telling you now, don’t come near me for an interview in the future.
“You don’t research properly, you don’t know your information, and you will put out lies about me.
“Well, I’ve had enough of that. But I’ll tell you that, no, she didn’t, I didn’t get her that job.
“She got the job on her own merits by someone who actually wanted to employ her, her abilities, her skills in HR, her abilities in working for the Tasmanian university for eight years and was head of a department down there.
“So my daughter is very capable. She might end up in the Senate with me.
“If I’m fortunate enough to get elected by the people of Queensland, you’re going to have a lot to write about then, aren’t you?”
