Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Hansard source

I have to say to Senator Lambie congratulations for bringing this to the attention of the chamber. The desecration and the vandalism of these war memorials tears at my heart, as it would for a lot of Australians. Every year, for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, people come out in their thousands and millions to respect those that who fought and died and sacrificed. The people that have done this are nothing but scum—absolute scum.

Vandalism has been happening, more so in recent years, to our statues, buildings, parks and other places, and now the War Memorial. This is something that I don't feel that our leaders of this nation are standing against. We're not hearing enough from our leaders to oppose this. We're hearing it today in this chamber, and I'm pleased we are. I heard Senator Steele-John make reference to these people not sacrificing their lives for freedom. I totally disagree with what Senator Steele-John said. If he looks at the history of the Second World War, Neville Chamberlain travelled to Germany three times to visit Hitler. He didn't want war. He was forced into it. Hitler then invaded Czechoslovakia, then Hungary and then France and other nations. The way he treated the Jews was that they were put into concentration camps, their lives were lost and so were businesses. Neville Chamberlain didn't want to go to war, and I don't believe that any politician in this place will want Australian citizens to go to war.

Senator Steele-John's message is that we shouldn't have wars. Then I'd ask the people of this nation who have faith in the Greens: if we were then to be attacked at a time by another country wanting to take us over, what would their stance be? Would they actually want to defend this nation? That's a question that people of this country really need to ask themselves come the next election on whether they should vote for the Greens.

Also I will say to the Labor Party: you have made quite a stance here today in condemning the Greens' comments. Will you still preference them? Would you still want them to have more seats in this parliament? Are you going to stand up for your values and what you truly believe in? Or is it all about what you think is best for you and the Labor Party rather than the people of this nation?

The people that are in this chamber today: thank you very much for being here and for listening to this debate. I'm sure most of you have either been born here or migrated here. But you migrated to this country for what it has to offer you: freedom, democracy and a way of life.

Those memorials have been erected to show our respect to those people that have fought and made sacrifices for this country and for what we have. That's why so many people want to come here and live here. That's why we really need to look more seriously at the people that we're bringing to this country. Where do their loyalties lie? You can have your protests, but this is Australia. This is not Palestine. This is not Israel. This is not Russia. This is not Ukraine. This is not any other nation. It is Australian soil. That's why we must respect it. You can have your protests, but this whole protest, really, in my eyes, started in this chamber when the Greens held up their Palestinian flags, made their disgusting speech and walked out of here. And that has continued on. There shouldn't be this division that's happening in this nation. For those people out there who are protesting through the vandalism that is happening, don't do it here on the streets. You don't belong here. Go back to a country that you belong to. Don't stay here with that hatred and the division that is happening on our streets.