STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia—Manager of Australian Greens Business in the Senate) (13:46): Last week Pauline Hanson, the leader of One Nation, launched a fresh attack on migrants who are living and working here in Australia. Her comments about Uber drivers, nail technicians and dog walkers are not a serious contribution to the immigration debate here at home.

They are a deliberate slur against particular sections of Australia's community, people she dismisses as disposable. In her words, these people should be gone. Let's be clear, I'm particularly concerned about the phrase 'dog walkers' and this attack on people.

This is a Trumpism from Pauline Hanson. She's talking about dog walkers today; tomorrow, she's going to be saying, 'They're eating the dogs.' It is a disgusting attack on those who come to Australia to make a life, to contribute to our community and to build their families. Where is the call-out of this lie?

Because, of course, there is no visa category for dog walkers in Australia. We have a whole array of visa streams and qualifications. Not one of them is for dog walking.

So where is the call-out of this lie from Australia's media and politicians? It is disgusting Donald-Trump-copycat behaviour from Pauline Hanson. It is her version of Donald Trump's 'eating the dogs', manufacturing an absurd menace attached to migrants to use to prejudice and to distract from the real failures of our housing and cost-of-living crisis.

Trump's claim was debunked by local officials, and yet it's crickets here in Australia. It's worse than in America because nobody has said a thing. (Time expired)