Coalition warns of becoming like North Korea as Pauline Hanson defends controversial remark

The Coalition has brushed off Pauline Hanson’s idea for a monocultural society, saying Australia does not want to be like North Korea, as the One Nation leader explained her vision by referencing the Socceroos.

Hanson said Australia is a “multiracial society, but we must be monocultural” in her National Press Club address last week, sparking persistent debate throughout Parliament House.

Shadow Foreign Minister Ted O’Brien took to the podium at the National Press Club on Wednesday and questioned what a monoculture actually means.

“Who’s in the mono? I don’t know. Who decides who’s in the mono? I mean, I assume it’s government, right?” he said.

“I’m a Liberal, I believe in some more government, not big government. I mean, what do we have, a minister for cultural purity?”

O’Brien said Australia does not want to be like North Korea.

“I’ve been to some countries where the state dictates people’s customs and how things should be done,” he said.

“I don’t know how many of you have been to North Korea, I have been to North Korea and I can tell you, it’s not the sort of place you want to live.”

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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Tuesday failed to answer when asked five times whether he supported a monocultural or multicultural society.

“We can have people from all over the world of all races and religions in this country, but they must share those core values,” he eventually said.

In the Senate on Wednesday, Hanson said her words on a monocultural society had been twisted, adding that the Socceroos represent her view of such a society.

“In the past week, the far left have naturally taken my comments into the realm of utter fantasy,” she said.

“I was going to ban foreign food, and the Socceroos wouldn’t have beaten Turkey under my policy. What rubbish, predictable and pathetic.

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“The Socceroos, in fact, represent my vision of a monocultural Australia. People from different backgrounds and cultures and nations, all wearing green and gold, and representing one nation under one flag, and succeeding under the same set of rules.

“Australian monoculture is not exclusive. It is welcoming. It’s an umbrella which covers all manner of difference. It’s not a dirty word.”

Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly told the ABC Hanson was trying to use the Socceroos to make her views more palatable.

“Consistently over the last 30 years what we have seen from her, what we have heard from her is nothing but contempt for migrants and refugees and multiculturalism,” she said.

“I think now she is standing up and blaming Australian people for getting it wrong, misinterpreting her, misunderstanding her and using the Socceroos to try and make her views more palatable.”