One Nation Says Australia Cannot Be Multicultural, Pledges Crackdown on Islamic Extremism

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson says Australia cannot be a multicultural, and has called for a “monocultural” society.

In a fiery address to the National Press Club in Canberra on June 17, said mass migration was a major cause of the current housing crisis.

Hanson pointed to Housing Industry Association (HIA) figures saying 11 million households were trying to “fit” into 10 million homes.

“Unsustainable demand is being driven by several factors, but the biggest is high immigration,” Hanson said.

She outlined Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates from 2000 that the national population would reach 24-28 million in 50 years, a milestone which has already been passed.

“At the time, the ABS did not consider net overseas migration exceeding 110,000 per year,” she said, noting some universities had nearly half their students from overseas.

“At the centre of this crisis is the utterly flawed policy of multiculturalism,” she said.

“We cannot be a multicultural society. We are a multiracial society, but we must be ‘monocultural.’

“Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.”

Hanson outlined figures saying 872,000 residents spoke English “not well” or “not at all.”

“In the 2021 census, more than half of Australian residents, 51.5 percent were born overseas or had one parent born overseas,” Hanson said. “Is that supported by the Australian electorate? Is that what Australia wants? The comparable figure for the United States is 14 percent.”

“Let me amplify this issue of national identity and Australian values. Only a fool would ignore the growing language problem which is a function of immigration.”

“We oppose entirely people coming into this country and bringing with them the troubles they have left behind, coming to this country and ignoring our values, our language, our traditions, our dress and the fact that we are predominately a Judeo-Christian society,” she said.

One Nation’s support has steadily risen across multiple polls over the last 10 months with recent electoral success cementing the party’s popularity.

Hanson Vows Hate Preacher Crackdown

The senator also pledged firm action against the “social cancer” that is extremist Islam.

“The people to whom I speak are fed up with hate preachers in some Sydney mosques,” she said, in reference the areas like Lakemba in the city’s west.

“If they hate this country, they should be told to leave.”

Hanson said too many Australians turned a blind eye to Islamic extremism due to fear of being criticised, but she was not afraid.

“If they have arrived here, they will be deported,” she said. “If they were born here, they will face the full force of the law.

In the fallout of the Bondi Beach massacre, authorities took action against the Al Madina Dawah Centre, which was regularly visited by hardline preacher Wissam Haddad. The centre was also frequented by one of the perpetrators of the massacre, Naveed Akram, which killed 15 people and injured 40.

Overseas, Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates actually crack down on Islamic extremists.

PM Says One Nation Has Continued to Oppose Cost of Living Moves

Prior to her address, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused One Nation of opposing several cost of living initiatives like Free TAFE and paying off university debt.

“I saw an interview from the One Nation leader where she was talking about making it easier to sack people and concerned about the minimum wage increases,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

He also said while One Nation talked about representing the “battlers” it was never true.

Labor has framed One Nation as a party capitalising on division and grievance.

“One thing that you won’t hear from me is drawing a distinction between Australians and migrants who are permanent residents,” Albanese told reporters earlier in June.

Albanese said Australians would lose access to services without a migrant population.

“This is the divisive route that the Liberal-One-Nationals want us to go down,” he said, referencing the three centre to right parties.

“My government seeks to bring Australians together, seeks to unite Australians, seeks to defend the national interest, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, a national body representing multiculturalism in Australia, for comment.