Channel 9, Today Show
There is no doubt that we are now seeing evidence of an appalling Australian characteristic. If you can’t win on the intellectual front - call people names. Pauline Hanson’s emergence has threatened the conventional political forces.
Every politician now knows that a lot of people out there have had a gutful of being ignored, unrepresented, and force fed policy and decision that they don’t agree with, but now the best it seems, and the most vicious way to counter all this is to call Pauline Hanson a ‘racist’. Say it without any proof.
In other words if people disagree about the way Aborigines should be best treated call them ‘racist’, if they disagree on the levels of migration, call them ‘racist’.
Now we have the appalling business of members of the One Nation party being named in the Australia/Israel Review, 2000 One Nation members and the suburbs in which they live, do you mind.
What the hell are we up to? Are these people rapists, are they peadophiles, are they thieves, are they criminals?
Do we have a list of those who are members of the Communist Party, the Labor Party, the National Party, or is this just designed to promote hatred and vilification of Pauline Hanson. Well it won’t work.
Quite frankly there are many Australians who think the emergence of Pauline Hanson’s party is a welcome burr in the political saddle, but they don’t believe that after the next election anyone other than John Howard or Kim Beazley will be riding the political horse, but now we have name calling, vilification, and even attempts to deny freedom of association and freedom of speech.
Pauline Hanson’s Party emerged by wondering out aloud what kind of Australia we were creating.
Her critics are now proving Pauline Hanson was right to ask that question.
I’m Alan Jones