Pauline Hanson says Australia ‘pandering to Muslims’

Pauline Hanson is not a racist, but she has a huge problem with many of the Muslims in this country, so she tells Stellar magazine.

The One Nation leader spoke with the News Corp publication in a wide-ranging interview published at the weekend, in which she claimed Australia is “pandering to Muslims” and that public reaction to her so-called burqa stunt last year was “over the top”.

Hanson made headlines when she entered the Senate last August in the traditional Muslim dress, before dramatically whipping off the facial covering to deliver a speech about the need for “social cohesion” across the country.

The stunt was slammed by her political colleagues, with former Attorney-General George Brandis immediately responding with a blistering speech in which he called her actions “appalling” and “disgraceful”.

“Brandis’s answer was really over the top,” Hanson told Stellar. “I feel a lot of people are pandering to Muslims in this country… I got a lot of support from the public after that, tremendous [support] whenever this issue was raised.”

When asked how she felt about being branded a racist for her views, Hanson responded: “I am calling for equality. Criticism is not racism; people need to understand that.”

The Senator also touched on her friendships – or lack thereof – in Canberra, revealing that many of her political colleagues deliberately shun her.

“Even now, the majority of the Greens and Labor Party won’t even say hello when passing,” says Hanson. “Does it worry me? No. It shows the type of people they are.”

Despite her unpopularity in the capital, Hanson has still managed to wangle her political influence to her advantage. She recently sided with the government to secure 1000 apprenticeships in exchange for support for the Coalition’s $65 billion package to reduce corporate tax.

She’s also taken on gun laws and last week criticised the Greens’ call for the National Firearms Agreement to be tightened to reduce the number of guns a person can legally own, which currently sits in the hundreds.

In a speech that channeled US president Donald Trump, Hanson told the Senate the Greens party was criminalising innocent gun owners and that it was insulting to farmers and rural property owners who used the weapons to help manage their properties.

“A gun is to a farmer what a wrench is to a plumber,” she said, adding that stricter gun laws would make famers’ working lives even more difficult.

“Australians have been lawfully and reasonably carrying weapons for a variety of reasons for generations,” she continued. “New laws introduced over recent years have made owning a gun even tougher.”

Instead, the focus should shift towards criminals, who she said are at the root of gun violence.

“Law-abiding citizens are not the problem with guns,” Hanson continued. “Criminals are who the Greens should focus on, not law-abiding gun owners. The time for bashing gun owners must stop. Many law-abiding Australians responsibly use firearms to work, hunt and for sport and this needs to be taken into consideration.”

What do you think of Hanson’s views? Do you agree with her? Or is she off the mark?