Policy Online carries a link (29.1.17) to an Australia Institute report investigating the connections between extreme right-wing groups in the United States and the anti-Islam policies of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party.
‘In the context of One Nation’s presence in the Australian Senate, indications of increased voter support for the party and wider populist trends in the United States and Europe, Australians need to understand One Nation’s world view – especially where the party’s ideas come from. It is important to chart One Nation’s ideological and political topography rather than to just narrowly fact check the details of its claims and policies.
‘One Nation has made numerous controversial statements on Islam that have attracted a measure of public support and considerable criticism. These were the centrepiece of the party’s 2016 federal election campaign and remain at the heart of its political agenda. Perhaps none of these claims is more striking, indeed outrageous, than the claim that Islam is not a religion.
‘This is a radically new proposition within Australian public life — a claim that one of the world’s major faiths, practiced in Australia for more than 150 years, is not actually a religion. One Nation’s signature policy on Islam is a call for “an inquiry or Royal Commission to determine if Islam is a religion or political ideology”.’
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