Pauline Hanson says multiculturalism failed, leads polls

Pauline Hanson, leader of the right-wing One Nation party, has declared Australia's immigration and multicultural policies have put the country in a state of crisis, using a major national address to call for a monocultural society. Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, June 17, Hanson blamed a recent influx of migrants for driving up house prices and rents, and linked multiculturalism to a broader erosion of national identity.

Hanson stated that Australia cannot be a multicultural society but is a multiracial one, arguing the nation must be monocultural and live under one cultural umbrella. She expressed grave concern about radical Islam and pledged to slash migration, including restricting entry from places immersed in such extremism. Her policy proposals include mandatory visa cancellation for criminal offenders, withdrawal from the U.N. Refugee Convention, tighter visa rules, and a longer wait for citizenship.

The speech, Hanson's first at the National Press Club in her three-decade political career, was met with protests. A banner opposing her stance on worker pay was unfurled and removed during the event, and she refused to begin with a customary...