Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I remind the Greens that in exchange for the tremendous privilege of serving the Australian people in this chamber, they swore allegiance to the Queen and her success. I remind them that it doesn't matter whether you think Australia should be a republic or that Australia only belongs to Indigenous people, Australia is a constitutional monarchy that belongs to every Australian, Indigenous or not.

I reflect on Senator Wong's words about the racism that she feels has happened to her over a period of time. I remember growing up in this country, the Italians used to say, 'They called us wogs.' I used to go to the fish markets and the guys down there would say, 'Yes, you know what? We wore it as a badge of honour—to be called a 'wog'.' That was the Australian way, but those people got out and worked. They felt part of the country, if you ask a lot of these people now. I see the comments on my Facebook page. People say, 'We are proud. We came to this country to be Australians.' They love this nation, they worked hard and they see themselves as Australians. That's all I've ever spoken about in a lot of my speeches.

When I mentioned in my maiden speech about being swamped by Asians, it was a comment questioning the immigration in Australia. I put this on the record again. I have spoken about it many times. We had high numbers coming from Asia and I wanted to address it by saying that we have to look at this; otherwise, we would have an imbalance in our population in time to come. It is the same as Japan. They are very parochial about who they allow into their country. Why shouldn't I have the right to say who should come to the country? We have even had former leaders of this nation say we have the right to say who comes to our country. But when Senator Hanson says it in such a way, my God, it is racist. We have to have this debate on who comes to the country, and why they should come here. I've never stated that Senator Faruqi shouldn't be here, but I was appalled—and so were many other thousands if not millions of people—by her comments in regard to the Queen less than a day after her death. I won't stand by and let that be said. I had my tweet. Senator Faruqi made comments that people like me should be pulled up. Well, when people like her make her comments, I will still have my say, and I will pull them up as well.

This place is the heart of our democracy in this nation, and we are here to represent the Australian people. When we acknowledge and accept that we all have an opinion and a right to say things, that's when we come to the right decisions for the people of this nation. They are looking at us as the leaders of this nation. My comments were not made in the chamber; they were said on a tweet, in retaliation to her comments.

Everyone has a right to have a say, but—along with a lot of other Australians—the way I see this country going is that there is too much reverse racism. I see activists who are using their race and their colour to divide us as a nation. I'll fight against that, and I'll speak out against that, every step of the way, as much as I possibly can.

It is very important to me, and I'm privileged to be here, but I refuse to acknowledge that I have made racist comments constantly. As I said to you, understand what the word racist means: your race to be superior to another. You tell me anything, since 1996 or before, that I have said that is actually racist. And I don't mean criticism of policy or criticism of immigration. There is nothing at all. Understand what the word racist means, because you are putting a message to many Australians: 'If they disagree with you, then call them a racist.' Our skin colour may be different, but we are all human beings in this place, and we have a right to a decent way of life and a decent standard of living. We have all worked hard and should enjoy this wonderful country that we have, without the hatred that goes on. It's about working together and who we are as a nation. Until that changes—and if your threats are trying to silence me it's not going to damn well happen—you are here to do a job. Do your job and represent all Australians with the dignity and respect they deserve.

In closing, as I have explained, I will not retract what I've told Senator Faruqi or any other Australian who has come here for a new way of life and disrespects what is Australian to me. She can go and do what I've said. I make the offer, also, to take her to the airport.