Pauline Hansen & One Nation voted into Australian Senate
Al Jazeera, “Australia’s Pauline Hanson wins on anti-Islam ticket”, 11 July 2016:
The right-wing politician and her One Nation Party have been voted into Australia’s senate.
Australian politician and leader of the One Nation Party Pauline Hanson stands with supporters on election night
[Dan Peled/Reuters]
Sydney, Australia - Fresh on the heels of a federal election, Australia is preparing to welcome its most multicultural senate ever, a congress that will include three indigenous Australians and its first indigenous woman. But the senate will also feature Pauline Hanson, a controversial figure who has made a career campaigning against multiculturalism.
A former fish-and-chip shop owner from the northern state of Queensland, who seems to resonate with some blue-collar and rural voters, Hanson first came to prominence 20 years ago on a broad anti-establishment, anti-free trade, anti-immigration ticket when she became the country’s first independent female member of parliament.
In her now famous maiden speech to parliament in 1996, Hanson warned that “we are in danger of being swamped by Asians … [who] have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate”.
To some, Hanson seemed to be a reminder of an ugly white past Australia was trying to forget. Belittling her in the media became almost a national sport, most famously during a 60 Minute interview when she asked the presenter to “please explain” the word “xenophobe” because she didn’t know what it meant.
