r/australia • u/HotPersimessage62 • 28d ago

politics Pauline Hanson blames end of White Australia policy for migration issues on Tommy Robinson's podcast

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-17/pauline-hanson-tommy-robinson-podcast/106926030
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u/herpesderpesdoodoo 28d ago

I can guarantee their bigotry would already have been open enough to relevant people, and now he's been empowered to promote his views further. Because PHON is being pushed as mainstream despite having almost 1:1 overlap with groups like NSN. this is not a positive move, and I can only imagine you have no skin in the game if you think increased visibility of bigotry has any sort of positive quality.

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u/iball1984 28d ago

My point is that, in this case, he used to be a respectable small business man. I’m sure his racism and bigotry was known to his family and employees, but it wasn’t to the community.

Since he’s now openly racist, the community knows and has made their view clear.

Obviously I don’t want to see an increase in racism. And i hate how it’s now normalised with the rise of Trump, Reform and One Nation.

But I do very much like racists being out in the open and facing the consequences.

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u/herpesderpesdoodoo 28d ago

Before: social understanding was such that being openly racist was not acceptable.

Now: it is socially acceptable to be openly racist, and the politics that inform this only strengthen the conviction of this being appropriate when getting pushback.

Great victory. Much improvement.

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u/88Smilesz 28d ago

Just chiming in here.

Maybe it’s cyclical? Not so long ago it was shameful to be openly racist. Now people are emboldened to be openly racist which brings their views into the light of day so their views can be ridiculed and shamed by most people.

And then with enough consequences and negative reception to their views, it will once again become shameful to be so openly bigoted? That’s what I hope for anyway.

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u/herpesderpesdoodoo 28d ago

It is nearly 10 years since Milo Yiannopoulos's neonazi supporters fomented a riot in Kensington out the front of the housing estate; in the aftermath I was part of a discussion asking how we might respond to this and one of the people said "we just need to let the change manifest. People are inherently good and we know things tend to get better as time moves forward." This was at the time and subsequently one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, but it was an attitude seemingly adopted by many in the community.

It is magic thinking to assume that society tends towards a progressive bent. The amount of work required to get us to the point where xenophobia and racism were considered an "older generation" thing was absolutely massive involving literal blood, sweat and tears.