Pauline Hanson has somewhat u-turned on her highly criticised comments labelling Aboriginal ancestors the "most primitive race", saying she regrets offending people only ten minutes after saying she would not apologise.
On Monday, comments made by the far-right Senator on the relatively obscure JJ podcast last year were reported by news.com.au, where she criticised the teaching of Indigenous history and culture in Australian schools.
First asking "what the hell have they [Aboriginal people] done in this country for, you know, supposedly 60,000 years?", Senator Hanson then labelled First Nations people "the most primitive race on Earth".
Speaking to News24 on Tuesday, Senator Hanson argued, without evidence, that "a lot of Aboriginal people support me because they feel they have been used as pawns in this".
"I will not back down from raising the issues that need to be talked about and debated in this nation, and I will continue to do that," she said.
Pushed by the host on whether her comments had upset a large number of people, Senator Hanson eventually stated: "Well, then I regret saying that because I don't want to upset people. That's not my intentions."
"That wasn't my intentions to hurt people. My intentions are going to pull people together," she added.
A post shared by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy (@malarndirri)
Less than half an hour later, the Queensland Senator offered a qualified apology for her "primitive race" comments on the podcast to a packed press corridor.
"All I've asked is for accountability from our ... governments and from our politicians to address these concerns and stop using it as a political football, and I will continue to talk about this," she said.
"If I've offended people by using that [word], yes, I will apologise for that."
Human rights complaint
Kurin Minang human rights expert and law academic Dr Hannah McGlade told National Indigenous Times on Monday that former Liberal senator Ross Lightfoot was found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act for "very similar comments" to Senator Hanson's in 2002.
On Tuesday, Dr McGlade lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission, calling Senator Hanson's comments "racist, insulting and offensive to Aboriginal people who have made enormous contributions to this country and whose history dates back 65,000 years and is known as the oldest living culture in the world".
"She made these comments in a podcast and in relation to the teaching of Aboriginal studies in schools, saying Aboriginal people had made no contributions and belittling an ancient culture which was sophisticated and highly evolved," she said in a statement.
"Also claiming that Aboriginal people are 'the most primitive race on Earth' ... (supports) notions of racial superiority which have underlined genocidal practices that resulted in mass dispossession of people from lands, massacres, frontier violence, and racial eugenics that supported the theft of children from their mothers arms."
Criticism across the aisle
Senator Hanson's comments drew heavy criticism from across the political spectrum, with Indigenous Senators Malarndirri McCarthy, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Lidia Thorpe, Kerrynne Liddle and Jana Stewart all voicing their disgust.
"When you say 'the most primitive race on Earth,' you are speaking about a race of people," Senator Nampijinpa Price told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.
"I don't care what excuses are being made. She did absolutely demonstrate wilful ignorance because there's a hell of a lot more to Australia's first people than simply what her remarks suggest."
Senator Stewart said: "Our mob know exactly who we are, and One Nation does not get to define us."
"There's nothing brave about turning Australians against each other. It's the most primitive politics there is, and every Australian should reject it," she added in comments reported by the ABC.
The rare unity of condemnation from across the political spectrum "speaks volumes" of why Senator Hanson — who in 2024 was found guilty of breaching 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act over a social media post targeting Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi — needed to apologise, Senator McCarthy said.
"Clearly the Senate can act, but I am personally calling out to Senator Hanson saying this is important," she told ABC TV.
"What (she) said is deeply hurtful. It's completely wrong.
"Those comments were completely baseless. They harm. They dehumanise First Nations people in Australia."
The One Nation leader was banned from parliament for seven parliamentary sitting days in November after she wore a burqa in the Senate, leading to her being censured.
Successful censure motions are uncommon and give parliamentarians the chance to formally express their disapproval of colleagues, but they do not have any legal consequences.
With AAP
