28 senators vote for Pauline Hanson’s ‘It’s OK to be white’ motion in the Senate

PAULINE Hanson’s provocative “It’s OK to be white” motion failed in the Senate — but a shocking number of senators voted for it.

PAULINE Hanson’s provocative “It’s OK to be white” motion has failed in the Senate — but only just.

Ms Hanson urged her colleagues to acknowledge “the deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation” and say “it is OK to be white”.

That last part was a reference to a T-shirt right-wing Canadian activist Lauren Southern wore when she visited Australia in July.

As news.com.au’s Frank Chung reported at the time, the catchphrase “It’s OK to be white” was originally conceived by trolls on 4chan’s “politically incorrect” image board.

Signs and cards bearing the phrase have popped up in all sorts of public places since, occasionally inducing outrage.

“I hope that the Senate does the reasonable thing today by supporting this motion. Anyone who pays attention to the news or spends any time on social media has to acknowledge that there has been a rise in anti-white racism and a rise in attacks on the very ideals of Western civilisation,” Ms Hanson said before the vote.

“I would also hope the Senate does the right thing and acknowledges that it is indeed okay to be white. Such a simple sentence should go without saying, but I suspect many members in this place would struggle to say it.

“People have a right to be proud of their cultural background, whether they are black, white or brindle. If we can’t agree on this, I think it’s safe to say anti-white racism is well and truly rife in our society.”

Ms Hanson’s motion was defeated by a close margin, 31-28. Labor and the Greens voted against it, while many government senators voted in favour.

Voting yes
-Leyonjhelm
-Bernardi
-Anning
-One Nation
-Liberals
-Nationals

— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) October 15, 2018

One of the opponents, Justice Party Senator Derryn Hinch, reacted furiously.

“With the federal election looming I’m starting to think that Senator Hanson and her former colleague Senator (Fraser) Anning are now locked in a race to see who can be the biggest, the loudest, racist bigot in their contest to see who can get to the bottom of the sewer first,” Mr Hinch said.

“That’s what this obscene motion is all about. It could have been written on a piece of toilet paper, which reminds me of that old story about a toilet cleaner. People were nicknamed Harpic because they would clean around the bend.

“There are all sorts of things behind this latest stunt by Senator Hanson. She’s using this chamber as a conduit for her headline grabbing stunts. Remember the burqa.”

Pleased to report that Pauline Hanson’s “I’m white, so I’m OK” racist stunt failed in the Senate today. But disgusted the Liberals and Nationals voted with her.

— Derryn Hinch (@HumanHeadline) October 15, 2018

Ms Hanson tried to move her motion during the last sitting period in parliament three weeks ago, but ran out of time. Mr Hinch blasted her attempts to drum up publicity for it.

“Senator Hanson tweeted a very clever line-up dreamed up by, I imagine, a giggling cohort in the backroom, her line about ‘It’s okay to be white’ and then went public with it before most of the senators in this chamber had even heard about it,” he said.

“She tweeted it and went on Sky that night and published it before it was even tabled here in the Senate. I would say this sort of racism is not only wrong, it could be dangerous.”

As you may recall, Ms Hanson was previously berated in similar fashion by former Attorney-General George Brandis when she wore a burqa in the Senate as a political stunt.

“I am not going to pretend to ignore the stunt that you have tried to pull today by arriving in the Chamber dressed in a burqa when we all know that you are not an adherent of the Islamic faith,” Mr Brandis said, his voice cracking.

“I can tell you, Senator Hanson, that it has been the advice of each Director-General of security with whom I have worked and each Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police with whom I have worked that it is vital for their intelligence and law enforcement work that they work cooperatively with the Muslim community and to ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do and I would ask you to reflect on that.”

Independent Senator Derry Hinch. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP