The “White Australia” policy was a good policy, and Muslim immigration should be stopped, according to Katter's Australia Party senator Fraser Anning.
In his first speech in the Senate, which has already been widely condemned by Liberal, Labor, and Greens politicians, the former One Nation candidate turned Katter Party senator railed against the state of the modern Liberal and Labor parties for what he said was “cultural Marxism”, and complained Australia was not like it was 50 years ago when it was “a cohesive, predominantly Anglo-Celtic nation”.
“Most people thought of themselves as Christian of some sort,” he said.
He praised the “European-based migration policy” known as the White Australia policy – introduced in 1901, and unwound by a series of prime ministers, starting with Harold Holt in 1949 and ending with Gough Whitlam in 1973 – and complained that the end of the policy changed Australia forever.
“It has allowed the cultural conquest of our nation," he said. "A tectonic shift has occurred in which the previously agreed social and political order has been overthrown in an insidious silent revolution,” he said.
He argued that Muslim immigration should be stopped on the grounds of the rate of crime, and that more than half of adult Muslim immigrants in Australia were on welfare.
RMIT Fact Check has disproven that claim, stating that 43% of working-age Muslims are not in the workforce, which is largely overrepresented compared to the 24% national rate because of the number of women not working.
Then Anning used a phrase widely associated with the Nazis, in calling for a “final solution” to his perceived immigration problem.
“The final solution to the immigration problem is, of course, a popular vote,” he said. “We don’t need a plebiscite to cut immigration numbers; we just need a government that is willing to institute a sustainable population policy, end Australian-job-stealing 457 visas and make student visas conditional on foreign students returning to the country they came from.”
The “final solution” was a Nazi policy during World War II for the genocide of Jewish people.
That line, along with the rest of Anning’s speech, has been widely condemned by a number of politicians, including citizenship and multicultural affairs minister Alan Tudge.
Fraser Anning’s comments on immigration do not reflect the views of the Government nor the views of fair minded Australians. We will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program.
The White Australia Policy rested on the firm belief that white people are superior to non-whites because of the colour of their skin. Fraser Anning’s First Speech as a Senator is clear proof that this is not so.
Who elected Fraser Anning? Answer: 19 people. Race baiting should have no place in the Australian Parliament. #reformthesenate
Ignorance drives fear, fear drives hate. There is absolutely no place for comments like those made by Senator Anning - not in our Parliament, our community or our country.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also backed Tudge’s statement on Twitter.
Well said Alan. Australia is the most successful multicultural society in the world built on a foundation of mutual respect. We reject and condemn racism in any form. https://t.co/RHslbs1FNs
The most senior Jewish politician in Australia, energy minister Josh Frydenberg, called on Anning to apologise and to immediately visit a Holocaust museum.
“I think it’s totally unacceptable for an Australian member of parliament let alone any Australian to utter those words and he should retract them.” @JoshFrydenberg on @fraser_anning's comments about Muslim migration. #9Today https://t.co/nt8MBE2Ym1
But Anning claimed late last night that he didn’t mean anything by his “final solution” line.
“Claims that the words meant anything other than the ‘ultimate solution’ to any political question is always a popular vote are simply ridiculous,” he said in a statement.
Anning told Sky News on Wednesday that the "thought police" had "jumped on" two words, and that he didn't mean anything by using them. He said the "vast majority" of Australians would vote to stop Muslim immigration.
In the 2016 census 2.6% of the population identified as Muslim, up from 1.7% in 2006.