Mark Seymour slams Hanson on Q&A: ‘One Nation completely bogus’

A FAMOUS Aussie rocker labelled One Nation “completely bogus” and stole the show on Q&A last night.

FORMER Hunters & Collectors frontman Mark Seymour labelled One Nation “completely bogus” and stole the show on Q&A last night, saying Pauline Hanson’s party isn’t capable of governing Australia.

It came on a night where Australian politics received a reality check at the hands of the frontman of a rock band, a millionaire businessman, a former pollie and an international terrorism expert.

With just two working politicians on the panel — National Party senator Bridget McKenzie and Labor shadow minister Amanda Rishworth — Seymour, businessman and author Peter Holmes a Court, former state Liberal leader Kerry Chikarovski and international security adviser Lydia Khalil replaced the political bickering.

The message? Most ordinary Australians would rather talk about the threat of terrorism and the problem of housing affordability than changes to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Oh, and Seymour really dislikes Ms Hanson’s politics.

His attack came after a One Nation supporter asked the panel how the West should respond to the “threat of Muslims worldwide to establish a worldwide caliphate”.

“I think Pauline Hanson identifies that clearly that there is a problem and that it must be addressed … that’s very important, that’s something other politicians haven’t done,” she said.

Mr Seymour launched.

Seymour launches on Q&A. Picture: ABC

“I think right across the spectrum of politics in Australia, all the parties are aware of the role of Islamist terror and its relationship with Islam generally,” he began.

“But when one particular politician stands up and deliberately cultivates hatred in the Australian community, what she’s doing is deflecting your attention away from what she’s really offering politically.

“It’s what’s on the rest of her policy agenda you should be looking at.

“No other politician … well, I have got myself really deep in now … I think One Nation is completely bogus.

“I think it doesn’t really have a meaningful political agenda. It is not a party that’s capable of governing this country.

“And she’s using Islam as a means of deflecting your attention away from all the other policies she has on offer, like a 2 per cent flat tax and abolishing the GST.

“Really? She seriously thinks that’s going to work?”

The One Nation supporter claimed she’d heard statements from people “coming out of Lakemba mosques” that Muslims want to “destroy Australia”.

She was shot down by Mrs Khalil, who said terrorists didn’t attack just because of religion.

“There are very specific and idiosyncratic reasons why individuals commit acts of violence which have nothing to do with religion. They’re marginalised. They’re on the fringes of society,” she said.

The One Nation voter poses her question. Picture: ABC

Ms Chikarovski said while she did not agree with the premise of the One Nation voter’s question, mainstream parties were losing ground to Ms Hanson and One Nation.

“I don’t think we’ll end up with a worldwide caliphate. The democracies in which we will live will repel that and it’s not going to happen,” Ms Chikarovski said.

“The view you were expressing is a view which a lot of Australians are thinking, and every time they say them they get attacked.”

Ms Chikarovski said “there’s not a lot of solutions on the table from One Nation” but predicted the support would remain “unless the mainstream parties start listening to your sort of concern”.

Lydia Khalil: ‘Terrorists don’t attack just because of religion.’ Picture: ABC

18 WHAT?

As discussion moved to immigration then onto 18C, the politicians warmed to their task, but other panel members did not.

After a lengthy argument about why or why not 18C should be changed, firmly along political lines, Ms Chikarovski struck again.

“I think these are changes not being much discussed in the greater community, with the greatest respect to this audience here. I’m sure they’re of great interest to you. I know they’re of great interest to a certain part of the Liberal Party in particular,” she said.

She said while she was no longer a politician, people assumed she was a Liberal party spokeswoman, and the “vast majority of Australians out there” were asking “what are you doing about climate change and same-sex marriage?”

“I’ve never had a single person say to me, ‘What are you doing about 18C?’”

Nobody’s asking Chicka about 18C. Picture: ABC

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

A final question about homelessness and housing affordability meant more time for straight talking, with Seymour saying it would be “the touchstone issue of the next federal election”.

“It’s like a Trojan horse, it is sitting there and most Australians are really concerned about it,” he said, adding he couldn’t see how his own daughters would ever afford their own home.

“They’re in their early 20s and I can’t see how they’re going to do it,” Seymour said.

Mr Holmes a Court agreed with host Tony Jones that the “elites” in Australia were possibly out of touch on the issue — an experience being felt worldwide.

“Everywhere around the world a divide grows because one part of the population is kept out of the benefits, which leads to a bad electoral outcome. So it’s inclusiveness, whether it’s England, and it’s areas that voted against Brexit, even knowing it would have an economic cost, because they were in the divide,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

Mark Seymour & The Undertow perform 'Master of Spin' to close the show #QandA pic.twitter.com/RffUZvBPon

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) March 27, 2017