Scott Morrison says it's "unfortunate" that his senators have supported Pauline Hanson's motion "it's all right to be white"


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updated

October 16, 2018 10:34:23

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described as "regrettable" the decision of his own senators to support a motion stating "that it is acceptable to be white", while the leader of the coalition in the Senate sits. is excused and has imputed an "administrative error".

Key points:

  • The coalition's decision to endorse the motion provoked an immediate reaction
  • Senator Mathias Cormann later stated that the coalition had in fact resolved to oppose the motion.
  • Labor voted against the motion

The motion, proposed yesterday by Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation, was narrowly rejected by 28 votes to 31, despite support from the Coalition.

He called on the Senate to recognize "the deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks against Western civilization" and "that it is acceptable to be white".

Facing an almost immediate reaction, Attorney General Christian Porter, whose office asked coalition senators to vote in favor of the motion, defended this initiative on social media.

The coalition's decision to support the motion immediately provoked a critical reaction, pushing Mr. Porter to defend this initiative on social networks.

"The actions of the government senators in the Senate this afternoon confirm that the government deplores any type of racism," he said.

This message was then retweeted and approved by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.

But Mr. Morrison, obviously unimpressed, described his senators' support for the motion as "regrettable," prompting Senator Cormann to apologize later.

"We should have opposed the motion when it was introduced in the Senate yesterday," he said.

"As Leader of the Government in the Senate, I take responsibility for this error and I am sorry that it happened.

"It's really regrettable."

Senator Cormann stated that the coalition had actually decided to oppose the "One Nation" motion when it was first raised in September, but blamed an "administrative error" on what had happened past.

Mr. Porter also sought to clarify his role in the debacle, claiming that the wording of the motion had been misinterpreted by his office and that he had not seen it himself.

"An e-mail had me unknowingly informed about the motion, without my knowledge," he said in a statement.

"As Minister Cormann said this morning, this was the result of an administrative error, including on the part of my office."

Lucy Gichuhi, a liberal senator from Kenya, consulted with Twitter to point out that she opposed "white supremacy" and "black supremacy" and that the government "condemned all forms of violence. of racism ".

During the debate, Senator Derryn Hinch, a member of the Defense Administration Board, described the motion as "obscene", while Green leader Richard di Natale compared it to a slogan of white supremacy.

Labor also voted against the motion and attacked coalition senators for supporting it.

Senate motions ultimately have very little meaning and are often used by members to make a political statement, but members are free to abstain.

Senator Hanson, who works on an anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform, is well-known for her titanic maneuvers, perhaps most famous still when she wore a burqa to the chamber.

Topics:

Government and politics,

political parties,

a nation,

race relations,

community and society,

Australia

First posted

October 16, 2018 10:13:24

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