Pauline Hanson attacks Albanese's silence on 'radical Islam'

Pauline Hanson has accused Anthony Albanese of refusing to name radical Islam as 'the real problem' in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack. The One Nation leader slammed the recently announced Royal Commission into antisemitism as 'fundamentally compromised' and 'a waste' unless it probed the extremist ideology that allegedly inspired the gunmen. Hanson said the Prime Minister had 'failed a basic test of leadership' by sidestepping 'the three words Australians expected to hear'. 'Prime Minister Albanese refused to say three words while calling his Royal Commission: Radical. Islamic. Terrorism,' she wrote in a fiery statement on Friday.

'The Prime Minister won't even say the problem out loud. Let's be clear, on December 14, two [ alleged] radical Islamic terrorists [allegedly] murdered 15 innocent Jewish Australians in an ISIS-inspired, hate-filled attack. A Royal Commission about what happened in Bondi will be a waste unless the real problem is addressed.' Hanson said the inquiry missed the chance to address bigger issues like prevention and long-term policy failures by concentrating on agency procedures. 'A proper Royal Commission should be investigating how radical Islam has been allowed to flourish in Australia,' she continued. 'The terms of reference released for the Bondi Royal Commission fail to do any of this.'

Hanson accused the government of being 'more worried about political discomfort than public safety' and argued that any serious review must scrutinise decades of decisions on immigration, integration and citizenship. 'This Commission will achieve nothing unless the government is willing to look at policy on immigration, citizenship, and how radicalisation has slipped through the cracks,' she said. 'The Prime Minister should be condemned for his failures that will put more Australians in danger in the future.' Hanson called for a review of Australia's immigration policies. 'We have to look at who we have been bringing into this country for the past 30 years. Are the people we are bringing into this country today going to assimilate with western culture or seek to tear our country apart?' she said. 'Australians expect more than a review of processes. They want a government that will face the hard discussion instead of running from it.'

Hanson renewed her push for tougher policies on face coverings in public, accusing the government of being 'too timid' on public safety. Hanson - who wore a burqa into the Senate in November - demanded the Commission examine whether current laws strike the right balance between cultural expression and identification requirements in courts, airports, and schools. 'The burqa, a tool of Islamic extremist oppression, should be banned in Australia.Instead, the government lets hate preachers in mosques go unpunished and allows radical Islam to grow in Australia,' she said. 'We're not even allowed to debate something as basic as whether face-covering clothing belongs in a modern Australian society when security is at stake.'

Hanson maintained that only a 'full examination of cultural, security and community policy settings' could prevent future tragedies. Meanwhile, Albanese has confirmed the inquiry would look into 'religious extremism' and radical hate preachers, but notably avoided mentioning Islam.

'Tackling antisemitism means investigating its nature and prevalence, and examining its key drivers in Australia, including religious and ideologically motivated extremism and radicalisation,' he said when announcing the commission on Thursday. Nationals Leader David Little proud said Australia had an 'extreme Islamic ideological problem', saying Labor had been 'running away from the problem' for three years.