One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been criticised after an extraordinary anti-Muslim rant that has been widely condemned.
Hanson claimed there were ‘no good Muslims’ and suggested future generations would suffer if more Muslims were allowed into Australia.
The Queensland senator has been accused of being devoid of policies despite her party’s rise in opinion polls, with critics saying she is stoking fear and hate to divide the community.
Australian National Imams Council president Shadi Alsuleiman strongly rejected the firebrand senator’s comments.
‘Her comments reflect a serious misunderstanding of Islam and the Muslim community,’ he said in a statement on Tuesday.
‘For many years, she has made inaccurate and harmful statements based on misinformation rather than genuine engagement.’
The comments follow an incendiary interview on Sky News, in which Senator Hanson claimed there was no such thing as a good Muslim.
‘I’ve got no time for the radical Islam. Their religion concerns me because what it says in the Quran, they hate westerners,’ she said.
The One Nation leader claimed there were ‘no good Muslims’ and suggested future generations would suffer if more Muslims were allowed into Australia.
‘You say “oh well, there’s good Muslims out there”. Well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?’
Senator Hanson later doubled down on her comments in a post on social media.
‘I guess (the media) aren’t used to hearing a politician tell the truth without worrying about political correctness.’
Senator Hanson’s anti-immigration party has outpolled the Liberals and Nationals in recent surveys, prompting her to claim she is the ‘true opposition’ in Australia.
But the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network challenged Senator Hanson to explain exactly what changes she would make if she were in a position to shape policy.
‘Pauline Hanson should grow some spine and tell people what she would actually do on immigration,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Would she ban all Muslim immigration to Australia? Will she ban Islamic schools? Will she ban Muslim Australians from entering parliament?
Pauline Hanson does not understand Islam or Muslims, Imams council president Shadi Alsuleiman says
Multicultural Minister Anne Aly hit out at the senator’s comments.
‘We’ve seen this before from Pauline Hanson,’ she told AAP.
‘She has a history of targeting communities, first Asian Australians, now Muslim Australians – this is the same divisive politics from One Nation.
‘When we start dividing people into ‘good’ and bad’, we move away from Australian values and lurch into fear-based politics.’
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor did not comment on the One Nation leader’s words directly, but said he knew ‘wonderful’ Muslims in his NSW electorate.
Senator Hanson has a long history of targeting particular religious and ethnic groups, in and out of parliament.
In her maiden speech in 1996, she claimed Australia was in danger of being ‘swamped by Asians’ – and 20 years later repeated that rhetoric, claiming the country was at risk of being swamped by Muslims.
