IN BRIEF
- At a rally on Wednesday, Pauline Hanson shared a “hit list” of Labor-held seats One Nation plans to target.
- In response, Tony Burke has drawn attention to comments Hanson made about Western Sydney in a February interview.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has responded robustly to Pauline Hanson after the One Nation leader announced her party’s intention to target several Labor-held electorates, including Burke’s own seat of Watson in Western Sydney, in the upcoming federal election.
“She has expressed disdain for my area of Sydney, and it’s important to recognize this: one cannot claim patriotism while harboring animosity towards the modern face of Australia,” Burke remarked.
Burke emphasized his affection for Australia, stating, “I cherish Australia for who we truly are, not for some fictional version of the nation that never existed.”
He acknowledged One Nation’s consistent presence in his constituency, saying, “One Nation regularly contests in my region of Sydney and will do so again. It’s a democratic process, and everyone is free to participate. However, I must send a message to those who seek to belittle their fellow Australians: we are a greater nation than that.”
Burke’s comments follow Hanson’s release of a “hit list” on Wednesday, highlighting Labor frontbenchers’ seats that One Nation aims to challenge in the next election. The list includes the electorates of Chris Bowen, Clare O’Neil, and Madeleine King, alongside Burke’s.
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Burke’s seat of Watson is one of the most multicultural seats in Australia and includes the suburbs of Belmore, Greenacre, and Lakemba — the latter of which has a Muslim population of over 61 per cent.
In February, Hanson told ABC News Breakfast she’d felt unwelcome when visiting Lakemba.
“I’ve been there myself in Lakemba. You feel unwanted, you’re not wanted to be there,” she said.
In the same interview, Hanson said there were “certain” suburbs “people can’t go into” and named Lakemba when asked to be more specific.
‘Western Sydney here we come’
The rally in Western Australia on Wednesday — at which Hanson revealed her party’s Labor-targeted “hit list” — was not the first time One Nation has indicated it has plans to target electorates in Western Sydney.
After the party’s historic win in a May by-election in the regional NSW seat of Farrer, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said: “Western Sydney here we come.”
While a recent RedBridge/Accent poll suggested One Nation was now the most popular political party in the country — with a projected primary vote of 31 per cent to Labor’s 28 — Hanson’s party may not enjoy such levels of support in Western Sydney.
One Nation only received 3.2 per cent of the vote in Burke’s seat of Watson in the 2025 federal election — a 2 per cent decrease from the 2022 election.
However, in Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s more-outer-west Sydney seat of McMahon, One Nation polled somewhat higher, taking 8.73 per cent of the primary vote — a 3.69 per cent increase from 2022.
During her Wednesday speech, Hanson said Bowen’s seat was the “first one on my list”.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.