Tony Burke has brushed off One Nation’s warning that his western Sydney seat is under threat, saying Pauline Hanson “hates my part of Sydney”.
One Nation Targets Multicultural Seat
Hanson listed the home affairs minister’s electorate of Watson among a raft of Labor-held seats that her rightwing populist party would target at the next federal campaign. Watson is among the most multicultural seats in the country and is home to the suburb of Lakemba, which is a significant hub for Australian Muslims. Hanson earlier this year claimed that people “feel unwanted” in Lakemba in comments that attracted condemnation and invitations for her to visit the suburb.
Burke’s Response
Asked on Thursday if he was worried by Hanson’s threat, Burke said: “She hates my part of Sydney, and she said so. And this is where I’m really conscious, people shouldn’t pretend to be patriotic if they hate modern Australia. I love Australia and I love Australia for who we are, not for some fake idea of the nation that we’ve never been. And so, you know, One Nation always run in my part of Sydney, they’ll run again. It’s a democracy, everybody’s welcome to run. But I have to say, as a message to people who want to demean their fellow Australians, we’re a better country than that. And please, people should not pretend to be patriotic if their actual view is that they hate modern Australia.”
One Nation polled 3.2% in Watson at the 2025 federal election, down 2% from the previous ballot.
