Are you really going to let Pauline Hanson lead the national debate on immigration, Malcolm? From The Australian:
It began two weeks ago with a jocular offer to share a halal snack pack, and ended on Monday night with feisty debate and harsh words.
Labor senator Sam Dastyari and Queensland’s One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson, seated next to one another on the ABC’s Q&A program, butted heads after disagreement arose among the panellists over Muslim immigration and the radicalisation of young Australians.
…“Why are you pushing this agenda and pushing fear into our community?” she asked.
“People in Australia are in fear because they can’t walk in the streets, they’re in fear of terrorism which is happening around the world,” said Ms Hanson. “Why? Because of Islam.”
Senator Dastyari was quick to hit back that Ms Hanson was “not an amateur … you know exactly what you’re doing and the language you use and the power of your language.”
“Twenty years ago it started off with blaming indigenous Australians then it became about we’re being swamped by Asians and now it’s about blaming the Muslim community,” he said. “It is the politics of picking one section of our community — pitting one section of our community against another section of our community, about simplifying complex problems and placing the blame on one group at one point in time. It is the politics of fear and division and, Ms Hanson — you’re incredibly good at it.”
Yes, she is. But she’s is also tapping into Australian’s entirely understandable disquiet about terrorism following the French attacks. Australia has had an incident in Martin Place already. Other plans have been foiled, according to police. None of these is about Islam per se, they are about angry men being co-opted by a global movement of lunatics. And Malcom Turnbull has done a very good job at pointing that out to date.
But this anti-Muslim, anti-immigration movement now has legs. And there will almost certainly be more European attacks to push it along. The Government will not be able to shut down these voices and so it is caught between a rock and hard place given it will have to respond but cannot do so by institutionalising Ms Hanson’s racism.
I’m afraid the answer is obvious. The immigration intake for all peoples is going to fall.
