A Fijian migrant has shocked a studio audience by launching an impassioned defence of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's controversial immigration policies. The right-wing party's soaring popularity is the focus of Tuesday night's episode of Insight on SBS.
Surge in One Nation Support
An influx of disillusioned voters have turned their backs on the two major parties, with primary support for One Nation surging to 25 per cent since the last federal election 12 months ago. One Nation recently secured its first-ever lower house seat in the Farrer by-election, along with four lower house seats in the South Australian state election.
Ronil Prasad's Defence
Among the growing orange army of One Nation supporters is Melbourne small business owner Ronil Prasad. Despite arriving in Australia with his family from Fiji 40 years ago, he defended Hanson's controversial stance on restricting immigration in a preview for the program. He was asked by Insight host Kumi Taguchi whether he thought she was racist.
'I reckon she's fantastic to be honest with you,' he replied. 'Someone who loves her own country so much, that's not racist. You have to have pride in your country. We came from Fiji and we came to this best country, that we call home now.'
Mr Prasad is proud of his Australian upbringing. 'I don't call myself Fijian or Indian - I've put an Australian flagpole in my front yard,' he said. 'If you come to this country, you embrace the way of living - or stay where you are.'
He firmly believes that Hanson does not promote racist ideas. 'If you really look into it, she's only trying to protect her own country, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it,' Mr Prasad said. 'If someone comes into my house, I will protect my house from someone if they're bringing different values into my house and trying to teach my kids something different. Well, you know what, you're not welcome.'
Opposing View from Neha Madhok
But not all migrants have the same feelings. Anti-racism activist Neha Madhok still has vivid childhood memories of Hanson's infamous maiden parliament speech 30 years ago. She was a baby when her family arrived in Australia from India.
'I was waiting for Dad to come home from work and watching the 6pm news, I remember this red-haired woman came on the screen,' Ms Madhok recalled. 'She kept going on about Asians and being swamped by Asians. I just remember thinking, "Am I Asian? Am I swamping someone?" And just being like: "I don't understand what I've done wrong" because at Australia Day that same year, I'd been flying the flag and being really happy and proud to be in this country.'
Later in bed, she overheard her parents discussing Hanson's comments. 'They were talking about possibly needing to leave Australia and I just remember feeling so scared when they said that as I just thought, "I can't go anywhere else - this is the only home",' she recalled. 'I just remember thinking that we can never let someone decide whether myself or anyone in this country is welcome or not. No one person, no one political party should have that right.'
Polling Data
Primary support for Pauline Hanson and One Nation rose two points to 24 per cent in the latest Resolve Political Monitor poll published for Nine Newspapers this week. Labor's primary vote fell three percentage points to 29 per cent this month, while support for the Coalition remained unchanged at 23 per cent, almost a record low. Hanson topped the poll as the country's most 'likeable' political figure, with a net performance rating of plus 12 percentage points. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor ranked second on plus 11, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remained in negative territory on minus 13.
Insight airs at 8.30pm Tuesdays on SBS or SBS On Demand.
