London: Pauline Hanson is ending her summer tour of Europe in a grim mood that seems to make her even angrier about migration, more provocative about Islam and more convinced she can defeat the major political parties.
A leaked recording of her remarks at a right-wing dinner in London has revealed her thinking. In her evening address to the black-tie gathering, she told the largely British audience that migration had destroyed their country.
And she drew plenty of applause from the crowd for telling them what she thought.
But her dinner speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), obtained by this masthead, also highlighted the weakness in One Nation. Hanson delivered warnings, but no rescue plan. She had complaints, but no solutions.
“What I find is happening around the world is that leaders are not doing their best to protect our nations, and are being controlled by international interests, and we are not the countries that we once were,” she said.
“I see in Australia the problems that you have in Britain. I see immigration is destroying our country as it has destroyed yours.”
This conclusion was based on Hanson’s brief visits to two locations: Luton, north of London, where there is a large Muslim population, and Tower Hamlets, just east of the centre of the city.
She did not like what she saw. And she was not alone – locals in Luton could be even more damning about their home town.
But her remarks over dinner made a very light meal. There was no answer on how a country might halt migration without crashing the economy, an essential question for One Nation when the next election comes. Hanson moved quickly onto questions of national identity.
“We have been told that we must be ashamed of our past, that we are white privileged. We have been told that we must forego a national identity, and embrace others into our nation,” she said.
“I have always welcomed people to Australia, a country built by the migrants that came there for a better way of life.
“And as I said at citizenship ceremonies: ‘I welcome you as long as you give our country your undivided loyalty. But if you don’t, I’ll be the first one to take you to the airport, put you on plane, and wave you goodbye.’”
The dinner guests applauded that remark. And they laughed when she told them the local council had stopped inviting her to citizenship ceremonies after she had made these comments to new citizens.
The anecdote stood out because Hanson wanted the audience to know that she welcomed migrants – or, at least, some of them. She said this on a night when she was being accused at home of blaming the dismantling of the White Australia Policy in the 1960s and 1970s for the nation’s problems with migration today.
On social media, she said it was false to claim she wanted to return to the White Australia Policy.
This is a reminder that Hanson has changed targets. She stormed into Australian politics in 1996 by claiming the country was being “swamped by Asians” and worrying about people from China. These days she is more alarmed by Muslims. She wants some migrants to know that she is not going after them. Whether they believe her is another thing.
And there’s another thing she wants: to be left alone about her trip to a luxury hotel in Sicily with billionaire Gina Rinehart to attend a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show.
Hanson released a video to declare that taxpayers would not be footing the bill. She enjoyed it, she said, but she added: “It’s not something I will ever go to again.”
Hanson made her dinner remarks to a supportive crowd in evening gowns and tuxedos in the ballroom of a five-star hotel at Greenwich, just next to the O2 arena. The dinner tickets cost £600 ($1156) each. This was not a gathering of a mass political movement with its direction decided at the grassroots.
As people entered the ballroom, CPAC looked like an elite group of influencers and donors rather than a movement of committed members. Those who wanted conservative ideas could find a better range, and depth, at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in London a few weeks ago.
Those who wanted to network with money would do better at CPAC. After all, Rinehart was in the room.
Hanson told the dinner she was Australia’s equivalent of Nigel Farage, the populist leader of Reform UK.
This was important because she has spoken to a range of political figures while in the UK. One of them, Tommy Robinson, is a storm trooper for the far-right. Another, Rupert Lowe, leads Restore Britain, a party to the right of Reform. She did not mention them in her remarks.
Hanson wanted to align herself with Farage. The two spoke at the VIP room before the dinner. Farage did not stay for the meal, but he praised Hanson before he left.
Their meeting in London could be the start of tighter work between One Nation and Reform to take on the major parties. Farage clearly thinks Hanson is the one to back in Australia, not the Liberals.
“We are a threat,” Hanson told the dinner. “Myself and Nigel Farage – and anyone who steps out of the boundaries of what they want to do and control us in our own nations [sic]. We must fight back.
“Yes, you’re called names, and I’ve been constantly called racist, or xenophobic, or actually Islamophobic.
“They are only names, and people have to start realising you can’t leave it just to a couple or a few to take on that fight. It is up to each and every one of us. You only have your one country. Is it worth defending? Is it worthwhile to stand up and fight for?”
There was nothing more substantial than that. There was nothing in her dinner remarks about what the fight will look like when One Nation gets to the next election and needs to close the deal with Australian voters.
As Liberal leader, Peter Dutton offered complaints without a solution– and look where he ended up.
Hanson says migration has destroyed Britain. She seems ready to take an even harder line against migration when she returns to Australia. But she will need more than this to win voters when the election comes.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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