On Monday, Hanson introduced legislation to federal parliament that intends to ban, in her own words, the “indoctrination of children” in the Australian schooling system.
The “indoctrination” Hanson refers to covers several topics, ranging from gender fluidity to climate change.
In a speech to the Senate, Hanson said the authority responsible for developing curriculum for Australian schools needed a “shake-up”. Under her proposal, they “are obliged to be balanced in their presentation of political, historical and scientific teaching material.”
Hanson then made clear what she considers “balance”. She impressed that human-induced climate change was “debatable” and that gender fluidity was an idea “unproven”.
“Every day Australian children are indoctrinated to believe catastrophic human made climate alarmism,” she said. “The IPCC only presents one side of the climate debate, but Australian students need to know the two sides.”
Hanson argued that schools should roll back transgender rights and parents should have to give consent before their child is taught about LGBTIQ+ issues. She also called for books like the Gender Fairy to be banned.
“These left leaning elites see life as one long battle of identity groups for social justice,” she said. “Identity politics causes division and undermines democracy.”
Senator Mehreen Faruqi tweeted that the One Nation bill would unjustly target LGBTIQ+ children and encourage climate denialism into the Senate.
#BREAKING: One Nation just introduced this terrible bill that would target LGBTIQ+ kids and encourage climate denialism into the Senate.
It belongs in the bin, not our Parliament. https://t.co/kqBkItbqMT
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 10, 2020
Senator Hanson’s attempt to gag teachers and stuff the curriculum full of right-wing conspiracy theories would be laughable if it weren’t so terrifying.
The curriculum should be based on evidence and expertise not Hanson’s latest bigoted thought bubble.https://t.co/BRJgFnhpy9
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 10, 2020
According to a report from The Feed, Hanson’s bill is so broadly worded, that “it could in theory, be used to do the opposite of what Hanson intended” and it assumes the federal government can legislate curriculum content.
On Wednesday, Hanson’s commentary moved on to Indigenous Australians, after the twelfth annual Closing the Gap report was tabled in parliament, identifying the government’s strategy has largely failed. The report revealed only two out of seven targets are on track to be met.
“Closing the gap is complete rubbish… as far as I’m concerned, it’s a joke,” Hanson told the Senate.
“The call for recognition is just a feel-good smoke screen that hides the true problems. The biggest problems facing Aboriginal Australians today is their own lack of commitment and responsibility to helping themselves.”
She went on to suggest that “closing the gap” was simply a marketing term used by politicians so they can feel good about themselves. According to Hanson, it’s only used so politicians can “pretend they’re doing something to lift remote, First Nations people out of their self-perpetuating hell-holes.”
She also attacked Indigenous parents for being responsible for poor school attendance.
“Whose fault is that? Lazy parents. You can’t blame the whites, when it’s your own negligence.”
Greens Senate leader Larissa Waters apologised to anyone who listened to Hanson’s comments. She said a code of conduct was needed to stop hate speech in parliament.
“It’s the racism that we’ve come to expect from her and her party. They don’t reflect the sentiment of this chamber or the vast majority of Australians.”
Also this week, Hanson has confirmed One Nation “remains unshakable in supporting the fossil fuel industry and new coal-fired power stations.”
Hanson submitted a motion for a vote in the Senate that would recognise the “value of new coal-fired power stations”. The notice also included unwavering support for the proposed Collinsville power station project, of which $4 million has already been committed for a feasibility study.
And again One Nation are protecting the Gov – now they’re voting against releasing documents about how the Collinsville power station feasibility study got ordered (we all know it was hush money for rebel Nats) and whether the Dept advised against it. Vale transparency. #auspol
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) February 12, 2020