Shades of Pauline Hanson in Fraser Anning’s first speech

Fraser Anning has called for an end to Muslim immigration in a contentious speech that praised the White Australia policy.

Senator Fraser Anning during his maiden speech in the Senate Chamber. Picture: Kym Smith

Conservative Queensland senator Fraser Anning has evoked his former party leader Pauline Hanson and called for an end to Muslim immigration in a contentious first speech that praised the White Australia policy.

The Katter’s Australian Party senator declared the “greatest concern for Australia’s future” was immigration and singled out Muslims, as he called for a people’s vote on “who comes here”.

Senator Hanson also wants a plebiscite on migration levels and warned in her first speech in 2016 that Australia was “in danger of being swamped by Muslims”.

“The one immigrant group here and in other Western nations that has consistently shown itself to be the least able to assimilate and integrate is Muslims,” Senator Anning said.

“I believe that the reasons for ending all further Muslim immigration are both compelling and self-evident. The record of Muslims who have already come to this country in terms of rates of crime, welfare dependency and terrorism are the worst of any migrants and vastly exceed any other immigrant groups.”

The Australian has asked Senator Anning to clarify what statistics he used to base his comments on.

Neither Crime Statistics Australia nor the Australian Bureau of Statistics have a breakdown of offenders’ religion or ethnicity.

The 2016 census found 2.6 per cent of the population believed in Islam, up from 2.2 per cent in 2011, while 52 per cent was Christian.

Senator Anning, who comes from a cattle grazing family in far North Queensland, reflected on his home state in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when he said “working blokes could get good, well-paying jobs”.

He lashed the Whitlam government for completely eliminating the White Australia policy in the 1970s.

“The huge numbers of people allowed to flood into Australia in recent years are unsustainable, with immigration quotas apparently set by successive governments on a whim, without any regard for the necessary infrastructure that these people would require or the ability of those that came here to assimilate,” Senator Anning said.

“Ethno-cultural diversity — which is known to undermine social cohesion — has been allowed to rise to dangerous levels in many suburbs.”

Speaking after the speech, Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong noted her parents were married in the final days of the White Australia policy, which had been “rightly consigned to the dustbin of history”.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said Senator Anning’s comments about the “final solution” to reduce immigration being a plebiscite were “vile” and demanded an apology.

“Referring to immigrants, particularly Muslim immigrants, with the same language that the Nazi’s used to discuss the extermination of Europe’s Jews during the Holocaust is vile, racist, bigoted and has no place in out society, let alone our parliament,” Senator Di Natale said.

Senator Anning said his use of the words “final solution” meant nothing other than “ultimate solution”, and claims otherwise were “ridiculous”.

“Some in the media and left wing politicians are simply afraid of the Australian people having a say on who comes here,” he said.

Senator Anning was elected as a One Nation senator last November but jumped ship from the minor party following a bitter feud with Senator Hanson.