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Australian right-wing legislator faces protests
May 4, 1997
Web posted at: 3:31 p.m. EDT (1931 GMT)In this story:
PERTH, Australia (CNN) -- Protesters hurled tomatoes, eggs and insults at right-wing Member of Parliament Pauline Hanson over the weekend as she toured Australia to launch her own political party.
Hanson, elected to Parliament as an independent, made headlines last September with a speech warning that Australia was in danger of being overrun by Asians and calling for an end to Asian immigration. Hanson also advocates withdrawing welfare for Australia's Aborigines.
Polls: Party has 10% support
Her new party -- One Nation -- appears to stand for little more than her views on race but is attracting 10 percent national support in opinion polls. Its popularity has surprised the political establishment.
But in Perth over the weekend, Hanson was greeted with vehement opposition.
About 1,000 protesters -- including white Australians and ethnic Asians -- lined a street Sunday as Hanson arrived for a fund-raising breakfast with about 300 supporters. The demonstrators threw tomatoes, eggs and signs at Hanson and her supporters as they passed into and out of the building.
Other protesters chanted "no racists here" and "keep the racists out." Police arrested two for disorderly conduct.
After the breakfast, Hanson said the protests made her "more determined."
"I'm not afraid because I stand up for what I believe in, and they are not going to change my mind or the minds of the majority of Australians (who) believe that this country is going down the drain," she said.
Protesters also gathered outside a Perth stadium where Hanson delivered a speech Saturday night.
Officials condemn lawmaker's views
On Sunday, two senior government ministers appeared on television to condemn Hanson's policies as ill-founded and divisive.
"She has no plan for Australia and the divisive and vicious future that she is promulgating will be repudiated," said Treasurer Peter Costello.
"It is time to repudiate the ideas," he said. "It is time to say Pauline Hanson is out of excuses, her ideas are bankrupt."
Environment Minister Robert Hill said that Hanson's One Nation party had no credible policies and predicted it would not be significant.
"You can run this fear campaign only for so long," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer similarly criticized Hanson's policies last week.
But many Australians consider that conservative Prime Minister John Howard has comforted, if not encouraged Hanson by his reluctant and mild criticism of her views.
Reporter John Raedler and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profiles: John Howard - Australian Prime Minister
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- Conservatives sweep to power in Australia - March 2, 1996
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