Politics

A Labor MP Whose Son Has Autism Has Slammed Pauline Hanson’s Call For Segregated Classrooms

"Even on the days that are hard, when you’re frustrated, and your disability makes you angry, you are still better than she is on her best day."

by Tom Clift  22 June 2017

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A Labor MP whose young son has autism has demanded an apology from Pauline Hanson, after the One Nation leader said special needs children should be removed from mainstream classrooms.

During a speech to the Senate on Wednesday, Hanson said that the presence of autistic students in the classroom was taking up too much teaching time, and led to other children being held back. “These kids have a right to an education by all means,” she said. “But we have to be realistic at times and consider the impact they are having on other children in the classroom. We can’t afford to hold our kids back.”

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Hanson has since defended her position, insisting that the media was taking her comments out of context. She also posted a video of her Senate appearance on Facebook and…no, her comments are still terrible in context.

This morning, Labor MP Emma Husar told reporters in Canberra that Hanson owed an apology “to the 164,000 Australians who have autism spectrum disorder; the children and the adults who have been told for a long time that they don’t belong.”

Husar’s 10-year-old son Mitch has autism spectrum disorder and has been in a mainstream class for a number of years now, where according to his mum he does “very, very well.”

“Senator Hanson’s comments yesterday are just like all the other comments that Senator Hanson makes,” said Husar. “They call on people to be divided, and to segregate those people that are different.”

“I’ve got one thing to say to every single child on the autism spectrum who is going into a classroom today,” Husar added. “You matter. You can be included and you ought to be included. And even on the days that are hard, when you’re frustrated, and your disability makes you angry, you are still better than she is on her best day.”