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

I ask that general business notice of motion No. 1236, standing in my name for today, relating to the Sentinelese people, be taken as a formal motion.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there any objection to this motion being taken as formal? There is. Senator Hanson, formality has been denied.

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

Mr President, in lieu of moving a suspension of standing orders, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

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

The case of the isolated people of the North Sentinel Island has highlighted a fact that many in this place are reluctant to admit: immigration can have a devastating effect on a people's culture and way of life. You would be hard pressed to find a single expert who would argue against protecting the Sentinelese people's culture and way of life through limiting migration to their island. I, for one, will not be condemning the Sentinelese as racist for keeping their borders closed. Nor will I condemn them for their lack of diversity. All peoples should have a right to decide their own fate, and I'm disappointed that the Senate refused to join me in acknowledging this.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In line with the government's longstanding view, motions that cannot be debated or amended should not deal with complex foreign policy matters. The North Sentinel Islands are governed by India. The Australian government does not comment on the domestic political security or immigration policies of other countries but recognises and appreciates the efforts of the Indian government to protect this unique environment and the people who live there.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson is right to say that the North Sentinelese people should be left alone. But for Senator Hanson to pretend to take the side of indigenous people anywhere is disingenuous, to say the very least. She's built a decades-long career, leaching taxpayers money, off the back of victimising and degrading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across this country—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson on a point of order?

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

I take offence at that comment by Senator McKim, and I want it withdrawn.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKim, I heard you utter words that were a reflection upon Senator Hanson's behaviour, one of them being the word 'leaching' with respect to her. I ask you to withdraw that comment. I don't think that is appropriate or parliamentary. I think it's a reflection upon another senator.

Senator McKim interjecting—

Now, I may have misheard, but that is the way—

Honourable senators interjecting—

Order! Let's not go there again. For the comity of the chamber, I ask you to withdraw that, Senator McKim.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the comity of the chamber I will, but I will make the point that it is rankly hypocritical for Senator Hanson to pretend to be sticking up for people like the North Sentinelese people, given her record of victimising and degrading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. I will also make the point that this motion, put forward by Senator Hanson, is in its own way an attempt to exploit the North Sentinelese people for her own base political purposes—something the motion purports to stand against.