By Belinda Cleary
‘Don’t marginalise Pauline Hanson or her supporters’: Former PM John Howard warns politicians One Nation supporters are ‘not racists or bigots’
- John Howard says demonising Pauline Hanson 20 years a go was a mistake
- He has warned Parliament not to do it again – following her maiden speech
- Ms Hanson said Australia is in danger of being swamped by Muslims
- Her maiden speech during the Howard years warned of Asian immigrants
Former prime minister John Howard has warned it would be wrong to repeat the mistake of 20 years ago and try to marginalise Pauline Hanson and her supporters.
Senator Hanson caused a stir on Wednesday night with her first speech declaring Australia is in danger of being swamped with Muslims – 20 years after making the same warning about Asians.
Mr Howard told ABC TV, Senator Hanson was entitled to be treated in a respectful fashion by the rest of parliament.
In relation to Pauline Hanson, the mistake that was made 20 years ago of trying to demonise her and demonise her supporters should not be repeated,’ Mr Howard said.
He argued that people who voted for Senator Hanson were not racists or bigots and did not vote for her because of their views on immigration.
‘They voted for her because they’re unhappy with the mainstream political parties,’ Mr Howard said.
A form of disillusionment or protest vote, yes.’
It reflected poorly on the Greens that they walked out early, he said.
Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said he profoundly disagreed with Senator Hanson’s call to end immigration.
‘I’m a strong supporter of our non-discriminatory immigration policy, it’s incredibly successful and serves Australia well,’ he told ABC Radio.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale defended his party’s walkout during Senator Hanson’s ‘vulgar speech’.
‘We wouldn’t dignify it by staying in there,’ he told Sky New
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke says the silliest argument anyone could make about Senator Hanson was to claim she was stupid.
‘She is smart, she is strategic, she is calculating,’ he said.
‘Pauline Hanson wanted the exact conversation across Australia that we’re having now, that the media is running.’
Nan~ Howard and Abbott were both engineers to having Pauline removed at any cost and prepare to leave her rot in jail under a facade of protecting Australia from the One Nation Juggernaut… Howard’s olive branch is delivered from a Trojan Horse with the duopoly now under the awaken peoples revolt threatening their power base and future existence to control our parliament two party dictatorship.
Your comments are the voice we hear daily now as the duopoly party faithful awaken from the induced LIBERAL/LABOR hibernation to maintain their control of your nation at any cost as the self imposed masters….
Well said Ed … we now see the independent following increasing daily and One Nation moving in leaps and bounds. The duopoly is in serious damage control and without relinquishing their self imposed dictatorial governing dismissing the voice of the people they are self destructing, but not fast enough….
Yes we voted AGAINST the major parties because they are no longer serving the people.
They serve themselves. And they fail to tell us the truth.
I voted for someone with the temerity to drop political correctness and speak out what everyone is really saying – not just what the SJW’s [social justice warriors] are saying.
What these retarded politicians don’t understand is that any Australian that isn’t brainwashed thinks Pauline doesn’t go far enough in what she says , to us she is still trying to tip toe around the issues when we want heads to roll literally and there is plenty lining up to do it
The reality of Australia being a Patriarchal Parliament has not hit home with most voters even now. Gough Whitlam did not have a female in his Cabinet in 1973! It was a Boy’s Club, And in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of Gt. Britain, Australia did not even have a female minister in Cabinet. In 2016 the gender composition of the OZ Parliament is 107 males and 43 females which means that if a Parliamentary Vote is held on SSM it will be carried by male politicians! This potent gender issue must be voted on by both sexes.
Pauline Hanson suffered for her gender and even became a political prisoner? She is still suffering. The Green’s vulgar behaviour during her speech was an insult to our Democratic Parliament and to Senator Hanson. Pauline has had to be tough to get where she is now. She is Australian to her boot straps unlike the Marxist inspired Greens. I have never in 50 + years of voting, aligned with any political party, I prefer to maintain my independence.
Good on you, Pauline.Oz is relying on you and your team , to bring sanity back into Australia.Also, it takes a big man to admit he was wrong. Good on John Howard!
I’m not sure what’s going to happen when Pauline comes face to face with the reality of the UNIDROIT Treaty of Rome, when Gough Whitlam signed Australia over to such a Roman contract in 1973, but maybe Rome may get just as a shock when coming face to face with Pauline and her supporters that have become sick of being treated as the foreign slave property of the VATICAN, as what the other lawyer run Political Parties have become.