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In Brief
- Opposition leader Angus Taylor says there is a “higher risk” of “bad people” arriving in Australia from what he calls “bad countries”.
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson addressed a March For Australia rally on Sunday, insisting she was “not against migration” but that it had to be done in a “managed” way.
One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, addressed an anti-immigration gathering, clarifying that her stance isn’t against immigration itself but rather the scale of “mass” immigration. She emphasized that her perspective on the issue remains consistent.
Her remarks followed Opposition leader Angus Taylor’s assertion that individuals from certain countries pose a heightened threat to Australia.
During her speech at the rally held on the Parliament House lawns and organized by March For Australia, Hanson advocated for a “managed” approach to immigration. She stressed the importance of welcoming individuals who are eager to integrate into Australian society.
Since August 2025, March For Australia has been conducting a series of rallies opposing “mass migration.” The latest event drew hundreds of participants.
Hanson questioned the government’s inaction, asking, “Why haven’t they addressed the large-scale immigration entering Australia?”
“We need to reduce the numbers. As I have said for many, many years, my tune has not changed. I am not against migration at all. You have to do it in a managed way. You have to bring in the right people who want to assimilate.”
Hanson also pledged to wind back hate speech legislation — introduced this year following the Bondi Beach terror attack — if One Nation secured the numbers in parliament.
“If we do get the numbers, we will repeal those hate speech laws,” she said.
“We have a lot of work to do, but you, the people, must make sure you make your vote count at the ballot box and don’t keep returning these idiots.”
Nationals leader Matt Canavan, whose party is staring down a political threat from One Nation, also used his speech at the rally to tout the tough-on-immigration policies the federal coalition has pledged to implement if it wins power.
“[Liberal prime ministers] Tony Abbott [and] John Howard stopped the boats,” he said.
“They secured our borders. We’re going to do it again.
“We’re going to check who’s coming to this country, going to have better standards, and we’re going to bring the numbers down.
“If you don’t share our values, you’ll get deported,” he said to huge cheers.
The conservative leaders used the anti-immigration rally to tout their credentials to disgruntled voters ahead of a tightly fought by-election.
The coalition parties and a resurgent One Nation are fighting for the Liberal-held seat of Farrer, where the minor right-wing party appears to have inched ahead among voters discontent with mainstream politics.
Taylor: migrants from ‘bad countries’ a higher risk
Earlier on Sunday, Taylor was asked on ABC’s Insiders whether his earlier suggestion that migrants from liberal democracies were more likely to adopt Australian values implied that people from China and Vietnam were less likely to fit in.
“Some of the great Australians have come from countries that were bad countries at the time,” he said.
“But there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries.”
When asked to name which countries he considered bad, Taylor pointed to Iran and unspecified countries in the Middle East, while also mentioning Gaza.
“We’ve seen bad countries around the world. I mean, the claim that Iran is a good country right now? Seriously?”
“We have seen terrible acts of atrocity coming from Gaza.”
“We know that in the Middle East and elsewhere, that there are countries that have committed great atrocities against their own populations.
“There is real risk with people coming from those countries”.
Asked directly whether China was a bad country, Taylor declined to answer, instead responding: “Are you saying Iran is a good country?”
Discrimination based on ‘Australian values’
Taylor insisted his government’s policy would not discriminate on the basis of race or country of origin, but on “Australian values”.
“Many great Australians have come from bad countries. This is why the discrimination shouldn’t be based on race or religion. It must be based on Australian values.”
Taylor said on Sunday that his approach to assessing individuals would be “intelligence driven and risk based”, rather than based on country of origin.
“We are not proposing discrimination based on race or religion. We are proposing discrimination based on acceptance,” he said.
“If someone wants to come here and overturn our democracy or doesn’t believe in our system of law, I think most Australians would agree with me, they shouldn’t be coming to the country.”
The comments come after Taylor last week unveiled part of the coalition’s immigration policy, which would make compliance with the Australian Values Statement a binding visa condition, establish a “safe country list” to fast-track rejection of protection claims, and introduce enhanced screening of visa applicants, including routine social media checks.
The proposed immigration overhaul was criticised by Labor and the Greens as a divisive reaction to rising One Nation support.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Taylor’s proposal had “nothing to do with the national interest and is entirely about sending a vibe to One Nation”.
Greens senator David Shoebridge argued Taylor’s proposal reflected a broader shift towards “extreme right” politics.
‘He’s picking up the vibes’
Taylor’s comments came as two new polls suggested One Nation’s recent surge in support may be plateauing — and as leader Hanson claimed the major parties were copying her policies.
The latest Newspoll shows One Nation falling from a peak of 27 per cent to 24 per cent, while a Resolve poll published on the same day had the party dropping from 24 to 22 per cent — enough for the coalition to narrowly overtake it on primary votes.
But pollster Kos Samaras, director of strategy and campaigns at polling company RedBridge, cautioned against reading the dip as a reversal.
“Really what we’re seeing is a ceiling… the One Nation vote has stabilised in the mid-to-high 20s,” he told AAP. “We don’t see any evidence that the coalition’s making any inroads into One Nation’s base.”
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press and Gabrielle Katanasho.
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