Taking illegal drugs, breaking the law and endangering lives is okay if you’re not a migrant and you can reframe it as a redemption story, One Nation has confirmed.
Victorian One Nation leader Warren Pickering yesterday admitted to taking speed and ecstasy and losing his licence three times for drink-driving, leading to confusion, given the party’s previous statements on law and order.
In a previous interview, Pauline Hanson suggested migrants should be deported if they break the law, saying “We’re taken as mugs. They come out here, peddle their drugs, commit their crimes and yet we still put up with it”. She has also called for migrants who commit crimes to be deported. In its election campaign this year, the party has pledged to make Victoria the “toughest state on crime”.
When asked why the same standards don’t apply to their own party members, a One Nation spokesperson was happy to clear up any confusion.
“Foreign people taking drugs is a failure of multiculturalism. Warren taking drugs is a complex personal journey,” the party spokesperson clarified.
“When a migrant is caught drink-driving, it demonstrates that they don’t respect Australian values.
When Warren does it, it demonstrates that he’s just like the rest of us”.
One Nation, which is contesting November’s state election on a platform of making Victoria “the toughest state on crime,” including a hardline stance on drug offences, insisted there was no contradiction whatsoever between locking up drug users and also employing one to run its Victorian branch.
“It’s quite simple,” the party spokesperson said. “When Warren did drugs and repeatedly lost his licence, that was a young man finding his way. When a black or brown person does it, that’s a sign of moral collapse”.
