Queensland Senator Fraser Anning has accused his former boss Pauline Hanson of betraying her traditional supporters, he told SBS News after his calls to restrict non-European migration drew intense criticism from almost every party in parliament.
The crossbencher was elected in a recount to replace One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, but quit the party on his first day in office before later signing up to Katter’s Australia Party.
Senator Anning used his maiden speech on Tuesday night to call for a “final solution to the immigration problem” and advocate a return to the White Australia Policy.
The reference to a “final solution” was widely interpreted as a veiled reference to the infamous Nazi policy that underpinned Adolf Hitler’s attempts to commit genocide against the Jewish people of occupied Europe in World War II.
Energy minister Josh Frydenberg, who has Hungarian relatives who went through the Holocaust, was among those who demanded an apology.
But speaking with SBS News on Wednesday evening, after dozens of MPs and senators blasted his speech, Senator Anning insisted he would never apologise.
“I don't say sorry. I have nothing to be sorry for,” the senator said.
“Not in this lifetime.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was among the voices of condemnation on Wednesday. She said her former ally “went too far” and said the speech was “straight from Goebbels’ handbook from Nazi Germany”.
Senator Anning said the response proved that Senator Hanson had “turned her back on, pretty much, the people who elected her”.
“She’s lost her way, unfortunately. She can say whatever she likes that’s entirely up to her.”
The leader of Senator Anning’s party, Bob Katter, made similar remarks at an earlier press conference.
“[Pauline Hanson] is abandoning the territory that made her infamous or famous,” Mr Katter said.
The KAP leader told reporters he supported Senator Anning’s comments "1000 per cent” and described the speech as “magnificent” and “solid gold”.
“90 per cent of Australia have been waiting for someone to say it and believe it.”
A Senate motion praising the former Liberal government of Harold Holt for dismantling the White Australia Policy passed without opposition, with Senator Anning absent from the chamber.
The motion was a near-copy of a similar motion put by Labor prime minister Bob Hawke in 1988. It supports a “racially non-discriminatory immigration policy” and says the government should never consider “race or ethnic origin” when determining who is allowed to come to Australia.
The modern 2018 version added the word “faith” to the clause in an implicit rebuke of Senator Anning’s calls to ban immigrants who follow Islam.
Senator Anning was roundly condemned by the Coalition, Labor, the Greens, the Centre Alliance and independents Derryn Hinch and Tim Storer.
Libertarian independent David Leyonhjelm said he did not agree with key aspects of the speech but defended Senator Anning’s reference to a “final solution”, describing the blowback as a “ridiculous over-reaction to a term which has multiple meanings”.
Senator Anning said he would have no qualms returning to the Senate chamber despite the widespread criticism.
“I've run some of the roughest pubs in Australia,” he told SBS News.
“So walking into that Senate doesn't frighten me at all. People can be outraged and offended but it's not a terminal condition. It's their right to be offended. I say to them harden up and get over it.”
