Australian politician now targets Muslims

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

SYDNEY (AFP) - Far-right Australian politician Pauline Hanson, who sparked outrage with her 1990s campaign against Asian immigration, said Wednesday she would now target Muslims.

The former member of parliament and leader of the One Nation party is running for a senate seat in elections this year and has applied to register a new party -- Pauline's United Australia Party.

Hanson, 52, made it clear in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that her policies have not changed, but that the target has.

"We need to have a look at our immigration levels and I'd like to have a look at putting a moratorium on any more Muslims coming into Australia," she said.

Hanson has also complained that African refugees bring disease into the country.

"I think that we need to look at getting out of the 1951 convention of refugees and not being forced into taking refugees in this country that bring in diseases, who are incompatible with our lifestyle," she said Wednesday.

The former fish and chip shop owner was elected to the lower house of parliament in 1996, and in her maiden speech warned that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians.

Hanson's racial views drew international criticism but her One Nation party briefly enjoyed strong support in Australia on issues such as immigration and trade protectionism before she lost her seat in 1998.

She was briefly jailed in 2003 for fraudently spending electoral funds before the judgement was overturned.

Elections are due to be held by the end of the year, but Prime Minister John Howard has not yet announced a date.

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[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hard to believe there are still people out there like that, let alone people who get political support for their whacked out views.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

Hard to believe there are still people out there like that, let alone people who get political support for their whacked out views.

i'm waiting for one specific individual to find this thread - a friend of yours

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

From the bio page on wikipedia, that lady looks like a bit of a nut.

Her views on the "priveleged" treatment of aborigines are rather interesting.

[Nessa 23]

Sounds to me like Hitler's syndrome.

[almaty 19]

a typical chopf##k.. i guess, the Jews were left out of this one...some people have such poor ego strength, that all they can do is find fault in others/groups to reinforce their importance...go crawl back into your hole...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

She does sound rather xenophobic.

[SteveLaura 0]

The former fish and chip shop owner

Relevance? It escapes me.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The former fish and chip shop owner

Relevance? It escapes me.

Maggie Thatcher had some sort of similarly mundane pre-political career.

Though "Fish and Chip shop owner" conjures up a few images of someone in a grease stained apron standing on a box and hurling racial epithets.

[SteveLaura 0]

The former fish and chip shop owner

Relevance? It escapes me.

Maggie Thatcher had some sort of similarly mundane pre-political career.

Though "Fish and Chip shop owner" conjures up a few images of someone in a grease stained apron standing on a box and hurling racial epithets.

Maggie was a grocer's daughter. Don't know what she did before screwing the country.

I teach a class where I work on the media. We consider reports regarding attacks by people with mental illness and question how relevant the illness is to the crime. Would the report have mentioned if someone was diabetic as well, or instead, for example?

Anyway, it means I read all reports that way now. Looking at what was meant behind inclusions that don't seem to have a bearing on the news being reported.

OK,

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The inclusion of the chip-shop owner thing I think illustrates what the journalist thinks of her. Basically - he's saying that she's crude and low class.

Edited August 16, 2007 by Number 6

[SteveLaura 0]

The inclusion of the chip-shop owner thing I think illustrates what the journalist thinks of her. Basically - he's saying that she's crude and low class.

Yeah, that's how I read it. Although the woman sounds incredibly obnoxious, I dislike journalism that implies rather than states. It happens frequently, tho, and I'm sure I miss more examples than I catch.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The inclusion of the chip-shop owner thing I think illustrates what the journalist thinks of her. Basically - he's saying that she's crude and low class.

Yeah, that's how I read it. Although the woman sounds incredibly obnoxious, I dislike journalism that implies rather than states. It happens frequently, tho, and I'm sure I miss more examples than I catch.

I guess writing "she's stupid and evil" wouldn't pass the editor's desk.

I agree its an example of common journalistic bias. Story would really have lost anything by removing it - just that it give a broader latitude of interpretation to the reader (even without that though - I don't think too many people would have reached a different conclusion).

[kim&james 0]

Actually the media hammed up her "fish and chip" shop ownership to identify to the australian voters that she was "another aussie battler", That she is basically a common person same as the rest of us.

Unfortunately she isnt that smart.

To understand Pauline Hanson you really have to go and have a look at the previous campaign. She really didnt have an idea on what she was saying and alot of the time contradicted herself and backtracked on statements.

At that time I think she found herself out of her depth and just went along with her handlers. She got a bit tougher after and actually started to learn the political system. Her biggest asset was that alot of people believed that while she is an idiot, the basic principles that she was touting were what they wanted, especially in the Brisbane/Gold Coast areas. For example nearly all the Gold Coast main shops are catered to the asian market. I went into several and not one english speaker was in there. It is this sort of thing that was pissing people off at that time and she just happened to come out and start saying these things.

Personally, I couldnt stand the woman or her ideals. Nor would I ever vote for someone like that. Unfortunately she tends to hit on things that people talk about in their homes, quietly. Bringing the average persons fears to the forefront and giving them someone to whom they can feel can relate.

I happen to know alot of educated normal people who actually supported her last campaign and voted for her even though they didnt support all her ideals but at that time they felt some of her ideas were better than any alternatives offered by the main political parties. Scary and sad but true.

She will always have some sort of political support... you can find crazies everywhere

And remember this is from the woman whose idea to combat inflation and rising taxes was to "print more money"

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

And remember this is from the woman whose idea to combat inflation and rising taxes was to "print more money"

that's priceless!