Politics

Pauline Hanson Has Been Dumped From ‘The Today Show’ After Huge Backlash To “Divisive” Comments

Maybe they never should have had her on in the first place?

by Rachael Conaghan  6 July 2020
Pauline Hanson discusses climate change

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The Today Show have this morning decided that maybe giving a national platform to someone with a well-documented history of racism isn’t the best idea, and dumped Pauline Hanson as a regular guest.

Despite the senator having absolutely no connection or relevance to the subject matter being discussed, she was invited on the show this morning to discuss Victoria’s lockdown of nine public housing towers.

The towers are home to 3,000 people, including many whose first language isn’t English, some of whom are refugees fleeing war zones, and others who are dealing with mental health issues.

Now, Pauline is known for her far-right views. In her maiden speech to Parliament back in 1996 she warned that Australia was being “swamped by Asians”. Her second maiden speech in 2016 called for a stop to Muslim immigration.

She’s also claimed that Aboriginal parents are lazy, and in 2018 had the audacity to put forward a motion against “anti-white racism” which declared “it’s OK to be white”.

So when you invite Pauline Hanson on your national news program, you know exactly what you’re going to get.

Predictably, she trotted out some pretty outrageous comments — calling the residents alcoholics, complaining that Victoria is being isolated because people who don’t speak English “don’t know what the hell to do”, then saying we should not put out information in other languages because people who come to Australia should learn English.

She also questioned why the residents — many of whom have casual or insecure jobs and are now not allowed to go to work — are being given a $1500 hardship payment, and dismissed reports that people were being left without essential food items.

“If they are from war torn countries, which some of these people are, they know what it is like to be in tough conditions,” she said. 

In a statement this afternoon Darren Wick, Nine’s Director of News And Current Affairs said they don’t shy away from “diverse opinions”, which is a funny way of describing racism.

“But this morning’s accusations from Pauline Hanson were ill-informed and divisive. At a time of uncertainty in this national and global health crisis, Australians have to be united and supportive of one another,” he said.

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Pauline has been a regular guest on breakfast television for years, and it’s far from the first time she’s been accused of being “ill-informed”. As for “divisive”, well, that speaks for itself.

There has long been a discussion about the structural problems in Australian media, who continue to give a platform to people like Pauline Hanson to promote their ignorant views.

They’ve been called out for it in the past, but today the backlash was massive.

That’s why people just aren’t buying the sincerity of Nine’s change-of-heart, especially since earlier this morning they seemed more than happy to promote her comments further on social media.

Before holding her cushy spot on Today for the past year, Pauline was a regular on Sunrise, until she had a massive blow up with Kochie when he connected the dots between One Nation’s immigration policy and the manifesto of the Christchurch terrorist who murdered 51 people in March 2019.

Stay tuned for the predictable outrage from Hanson followers crying over “freedom of speech”.