Sam Clench, news.com.au, Sepember 20 2018

This is the last sitting day of parliament until mid-October, which means all our esteemed leaders have been scrambling for a chance to push their pet issues.

Among them was One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Senator Hanson wanted to move a motion in the Senate, urging her colleagues to acknowledge “the deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation” and say “it is OK to be white”.

That last part was a reference to a T-shirt right-wing Canadian activist Lauren Southern wore when she visited Australia in July.

As news.com.au’s Frank Chung reported at the time, the catchphrase “It’s OK to be white” was originally conceived by trolls on 4chan’s “politically incorrect” image board.

Signs and cards bearing the phrase have popped up in all sorts of public places since, occasionally inducing outrage.

Tragically the Senate ran out of time, meaning Ms Hanson’s motion will have to wait until the next time parliament sits.

Her push came after a strident speech she made on immigration in the Senate yesterday.

Senator Hanson said “the fools on the left side of politics” were “acting like ostriches with their heads in the sand”.

“It is time we deal with our failed immigration policy, which has seen culturally separate communities establish themselves near our major cities, funded by our welfare system,” she said.

“It is time to call a spade a spade. We have heavy concentrations of overseas-born near our major cities, and the patterns of settlement suggest that the past pattern of integration will not continue.”

Senator Hanson cited Denmark’s treatment of the issue as a model Australia could learn from.

“In Denmark, citizenship is available only to those applicants resident for nine years who have been self-supporting for four of the previous five years. Additionally, applicants need to evidence cultural competence and knowledge, including language skills and knowledge of society,” she said.

“To gain citizenship in Australia, you only need to be a resident for four years, one year on a permanent visa, and then get 12 out of 20 questions right in a multiple choice test.”

She referred approvingly to some of the Danish government’s toughest policies.

“The Danish government announced that it would introduce new laws to regulate all aspects of life in low-income and heavily Muslim enclaves in an attempt to bring this group into Danish society. The proposal includes mandatory day care, for a minimum of 30 hours a week, for children up to the age of six so that they can participate in a course on Danish values such as gender equality, community participation and co-responsibility.”

She said the government had also proposed prison sentences for immigrant parents who took their children back to their country of origin “in a way that the government determines compromises the child’s schooling, language and wellbeing”.

Senator Hanson slammed opponents of a burqa ban, accusing them of being “fools” who do not realise “the implications of creeping Islamic fundamentalism in our society”.

As you may recall, she was berated by former Attorney-General George Brandis when she wore a burqa in the Senate as a political stunt.

“I am not going to pretend to ignore the stunt that you have tried to pull today by arriving in the Chamber dressed in a burqa when we all know that you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith,” Mr Brandis said, his voice cracking.

“I can tell you, Senator Hanson, that it has been the advice of each Director-General of security with whom I have worked and each Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police with whom I have worked that it is vital for their intelligence and law enforcement work that they work cooperatively with the Muslim community and to ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do and I would ask you to reflect on that.”

Yesterday, Senator Hanson stressed her speech was referring to “a minority of Australian Muslims”.

“I recognise and appreciate the hardworking Australian Muslims who have embraced our democracy and values and who do not support an extreme ideology.”