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@media (forced-colors: active) { .background { fill: none; } } ABC iViewABC ListenABC NewsNews HomePauline Hanson blames end of White Australia policy for migration issues on Tommy Robinson's podcastShareShare articlePauline Hanson blames end of White Australia policy for migration issues on Tommy Robinson's podcastBy chief digital political correspondent Clare ArmstrongTopic:One Nation

Pauline Hanson believes that, after the end of the White Australia policy, immigrants came to Australia "purely for the welfare system". (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Pauline Hanson has singled out the end of the White Australia policy as the beginning of migration issues in Australia.

In an interview with convicted felon and far-right activist Tommy Robinson, she suggested without evidence migrants came to Australia "purely for the welfare system".

Senator Hanson also revealed she believed her daughter, Lee, had the "potential" to be a leader of the party.

Link copiedShareShare articleOne Nation leader Pauline Hanson has blamed the end of the White Australia policy for migration issues in the country during a controversial podcast appearance with a far-right activist in the UK.

Senator Hanson also claimed it was "quite known" that Muslims in Australia were prominent among people "ripping off" the NDIS in an interview with Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, released overnight.

The podcast was recorded last week during Senator Hanson's visit to the UK, where she also walked a street in Mr Robinson's hometown of Luton, north of London, where he blamed "mass Islamic migration" for the "rapid decline" of the area.

Tommy Robinson has an extensive criminal record and has served prison sentences for offences including assault, fraud and contempt of court. (Reuters: Chris J Ratcliffe)

In the hour-long discussion, Senator Hanson suggested migrants were often coming "purely for the welfare system" and that Australian Muslims were having children because the Koran taught "Allah will provide".

"Well, the Allah that is providing is the taxpayer," she added.

Senator Hanson has been criticised for her decision to meet Mr Robinson, who has an extensive criminal record and has served prison sentences for offences including assault, fraud and contempt of court.

In what was described as an "unfiltered conversation" in the podcast's description, Mr Robinson said Senator Hanson was someone he had "looked up to for years".

The pair discussed a range of issues, including net zero, migration and Senator Hanson's own political career.

Mr Robinson quizzed Senator Hanson on how Australia had ended up with "Pakistanis, Somalis, all of these African problems with violent Africans?"

He asked "how much of a problem" it was in relation to "how many people wear the full niqab in Australia".

"I've seen some crazy videos coming out of Australia. How has that happened when you have such a strong immigration policy?" Mr Robinson said.

Senator Hanson said it "started" in 1973 when former prime minister Gough Whitlam "opened up and got rid of the White Australia policy".

The White Australia policy was the name given to a series of laws and administrative practices introduced after 1901 to restrict non-European immigration and preserve Australia as a predominantly white, British society.

The policy was gradually dismantled after the Second World War, while the final discriminatory elements were removed by the Whitlam government in 1973.

Senator Hanson says it's "quite known" that Muslims in Australia are prominently represented among people "ripping off" the NDIS. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Senator Hanson said migrants from countries like Italy, Germany and Poland arrived and "integrated into the system" by learning to speak English.

She said those groups had "really assimilated," but claimed in the decades since, many migrants had started to come to Australia "purely for the welfare system or to get on our NDIS".

The pair then discussed the National Disability Insurance Scheme, with Mr Robinson suggesting Australia had "the big disability pays" where "you can sit at home and get paid and do nothing".

Asked what the nationality of NDIS recipients in Australia were, Senator Hanson claimed a lot of people on the scheme were "ripping the system off" who were "a lot from Muslim areas".

"But there's a lot of Aussies too … so I'm not just going to pick them out," she added.

"But it is quite known in the Muslim streets you've got quite a lot on that street who are on the NDIS scheme, so we know that it's actually happening.

"But a lot of people will do it, and they're ripping off the system."

She replied that there were "quite a few" in certain areas of Western Sydney, including the suburb of Lakemba, but also mentioned Brisbane and Melbourne.

Health Minister Mark Butler dismissed the claims, stating he had never received advice breaking down NDIS recipients by nationality or religious background.

"I'm not sure where Ms Hanson is getting her figures from, but they've never been provided to me as the minister for disabilities and the minister for the NDIS," he said.

National Disability Insurance Agency figures show culturally and linguistically diverse Australians are under-represented on the scheme, making up 10 per cent of the 800,000 participants.

From interest rates to policy advice from billionaire buddy Gina Rinehart, here is how One Nation's economic platform could look.

Mr Robinson asked Senator Hanson how much of Australia's population was Muslim, and she said it was about 4 per cent, or one million people, before noting that was data from the 2021 census.

He replied that it was probably now higher due to the "birth rate".

Senator Hanson then said: "They [Muslim Australians] are having children, because, you know what, in the Koran it says Allah will provide".

"Well, the Allah that is providing is the taxpayer," she said, before adding, "Well, guess what, I've had enough".

According to the census, 3.2 per cent of Australians identified as Muslim, which would equate to about 813,392 people.

The largest religious affiliations in that survey were Christianity with 43.9 per cent, no religion with 38.9 per cent, and then Islam, followed by Hinduism at 2.7 per cent and Buddhism at 2.4 per cent.

Talking about One Nation, Senator Hanson revealed she believed her daughter, Lee, had the "potential" to be a leader of the party one day.

"But I don't believe in nepotism, and she has to prove herself, not only to me, but to the other members and to the public and everything like that, that's something she has to earn," she said.

Pauline Hanson has suggested her daughter, Lee, could be a future candidate for One Nation's leadership. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

Senator Hanson said her daughter was "quite smart and highly respected" in the workplace, and had chosen to enter politics despite seeing the toll it had taken on her mother.

In 2003, Senator Hanson was convicted of electoral fraud and spent several weeks in prison before the decision was successfully overturned on appeal.

Lee Hanson works as an advisor to NSW One Nation Senator Sean Bell and has unsuccessfully contested a Senate seat in Tasmania at the last federal election.

Senator Hanson travelled to the UK to attend two conservative forums, and has also visited Sicily, where she was photographed at a luxury hotel with billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Senator Hanson has defended her controversial meeting with Mr Robinson in an interview with Channel 7, due to air on Sunday.

In a promo for an upcoming episode of Spotlight, Senator Hanson said she had seen "what Australia could end up like" during her street walk with Mr Robinson in Luton.

"I'm not going to apologise for meeting with Tommy Robinson," she said when asked if it was wise to align herself with the far-right activist.

We've come a long way since it was Pauline Hanson who didn't know the meaning of big words.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce on Thursday said he did not "support so much of what Tommy Robinson does," but argued, "it's incredibly important that we understand the social dynamic and how it came about".

"Tommy Robinson only exists because of the fractious nature of where England has arrived at, and to deny that is to deny the facts," Mr Joyce told ABC Radio National.

Earlier this month, media figure Karl Stefanovic was sacked by Nine following his own controversial podcast interview with Mr Robinson.

Mr Stefanovic removed the episode from podcast platforms and social media the morning after its release, but One Nation reposted it on the party's own channel.

Mr Joyce has denied reports that the UK trip had caused a fracture in his relationship with Senator Hanson, saying today that they are "great mates" and have a constructive relationship.

He also defended Senator Hanson's trip to Italy, arguing, "I don't care if it's Dolce Gabbana or Prada, as long as you're paying for it, darling, I don't care."

Mr Joyce admitted that he suspects a "fair bit" of the holiday would be funded by the billionaire, but said he expected Senator Hanson to declare the trip if that was the case.

"It's her money, it's her time, it's school holidays, if they've taken some time off to go to a resort, good on them," he said.

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