Susie O’Brien: It’s okay to be white slogan doesn’t advocate anti-racism

WHY were our politicians endorsing a slogan used by the KKK and other white supremacist groups? Pauline Hanson is a laughing stock — and the Government fell for it, writes Susie O’Brien.

IT’S okay to be white. But it’s not okay for our politicians to endorse a slogan used by the KKK and other white supremacist groups.

And yet this is exactly what happened in the Senate last night, with lame-duck Liberals and Nationals voting in support of a moronic motion from Senator Pauline Hanson standing up for privileged mighty whities.

The motion, which was defeated — but only just — asked for acknowledgment of the “deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on western civilisation”. It also asked the Senate to affirm that “It’s okay to be white”.

It nearly passed in the complete absence of any evidence that people think it’s not okay to be white.

MORE: MORRISON GOVERNMENT BLAMES ADMIN ERROR FOR BACKING HANSON’S MOTION

LABOR MOTION AGAINST HANSON’S ‘WHITE’ VOTE

One Nation Leader Senator Pauline Hanson brought the motion. Picture: Gary Ramage

Pauline Hanson has done more than just about anyone else to give white people a bad name, and even she managed to get enough votes to be elected to the senate at the last election.

Hanson is wrong to say the “most demonised person in the country is the white male”.

Caucasians — especially educated male caucasians — aren’t suffering.

For centuries white people in this country, and everywhere else, have done just fine.

White people run most of our companies, dominate all sides of parliament, are well represented on TV and in films. They live long healthy lives, are well employed and are over-represented in tertiary education.

Any notion that migrants or Aborigines have it better than white people is laughable and not supported by any social or economic data anywhere.

I don’t buy the notion that the Coalition senators only voted for this utterly ridiculous motion because of a junior staffer’s mishap. They voted for it because they thought it would sit well with far right-wing voters ahead of the all-important Wentworth by-election.

If they were really against the motion, why did a number of them send out messages supporting it?

Attorney-General Christian Porter sent this tweet out just before 9pm: “The Government senators’ actions in the Senate this afternoon confirm that the Government deplores racism of any kind”. That message was then retweeted and endorsed by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann among others.

The Government Senators’ actions in the Senate this afternoon confirm that the Government deplores racism of any kind.

— Christian Porter (@cporterwa) October 15, 2018

Similarly, Kenyan-born Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi, tweeted that she was opposed to “white supremacy” and “black supremacy” and that the Government “condemns all forms of racism”.

It’s a bit like the religious freedoms paper from Ruddock, which has backfired spectacularly because the leaking of key proposed reforms have led to calls for less religious freedom, not more.

I would like to think people running our country would well know the “It’s okay to be white” slogan is not advocating anti-racism. It’s promoting racism against non-white groups and asserting the supremacy of whites over others. It’s inherently racist.

Hanson thinks our great nation will “completely disintegrate” if the left continues to push “cultural Marxism down our throats”.

She’s clearly pandering to far-right extremists who think migrants, Muslims and indigenous Australians are taking over. What can you expect from someone who wore a burqa as a stunt onto the floor of the Senate? She’s a laughing stock, and the Government fell for it.

For the second time in two weeks Prime Minister Scott Morrison looks like a weak fool because of the actions of his own party. It doesn’t bode well for Wentworth.