Jacinta Price responds to Pauline Hanson’s call for a Australia to be ‘monocultural’ society

Firebrand Liberal Senator Jacinta Price has responded to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s declaration Australia “must be monocultural”.

Senator Hanson launched a blistering attack on multiculturalism during her National Press Club address on Wednesday, telling a room packed with Australia’s political class it was an “utterly flawed policy”.

“Undeniably immigration or immigration policy has our country in the state of crisis. At the centre of this crisis is the utterly flawed policy of multiculturalism,” she said.

“We cannot be a multicultural society. We are a multiracial society, but we must be monocultural. Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.”

Asked about the comments by Sky News host Chris Kenny, Senator Price said she had always been “very passionate about the fact that we are all Australians”.

“We should be proud of the Australian culture that we do have, which is derived from all of us coming together – whether it’s First Australians, to those settlers who came, the convict class, to the migrant community,” she said.

“I mean, within my own family I have all of those elements, which I’m extremely proud of, and it’s something that I’ve always said we should celebrate in this country and teach our children to be proud of.

“I think it’s something that we should get behind.”

Asked whether this was a “monoculture”, the Indigenous senator said that to her, it was “the Australian culture”.

“It’s understanding that we do have an Australian culture,” she said, adding Australians should not be divided into different groups based on their background or heritage.

“I truly believe that we need to actually value our Australian culture here in Australia, which is a celebration of all of our cultures that have come together.”

When host Chris Kenny pressed her on whether she thought she was on the same page as Senator Hanson, Senator Price seemed unsure.

“Look, these are my views and these are the views that I’ve always held, and Pauline has obviously expressed her views in her way,” the Northern Territory Senator said.

“I suppose my views come from having the lived experience of being someone who’s got an Aboriginal mother, a white Australian father, children who’ve got combined heritage within them.

“My husband, who is also a recent Australian and a very proud ‘Scossie’, but a migrant in his own right, who’s made this country his own, and he’s very passionate about it.

“Which I suppose is why he was out there during the Voice campaign, fighting alongside other Australians, so we wouldn’t divide our nation along the lines of race within our constitution.”

Senator Hanson’s decision to call for a “monoculture” has been challenged, including by some in agreement with her broader scepticism of Australia’s migration program.

In an earlier interview, Kenny put it to the One Nation leader the term was “too extreme”.

“It suggests we don’t allow for variations in background in this country, which are obvious around the country. When you look at Indians, Italians, Sikhs, Chinese, Middle Eastern people, they’re all expressing some elements of their culture while embracing Australian values,” the Sky News host said.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also criticised the comment while nonetheless arguing Australia’s immigration system should have a stronger focus on values.

“Migration in this country has been too high and the standards have been too low, and that must change,” Mr Taylor said.

“But what we favour is a values-based immigration policy and that is regardless of race or religion or where they come from.

“If she wants to judge people based on the colour of their skin or their race, One Nation needs to explain that.”

Senator Hanson later hit back at the Opposition Leader over the criticism.

“For Angus Taylor to actually criticise this, I think he’s actually sitting on the fence – he can’t make a decision about this,” she said.

“If people have chosen to come to Australia, they know what they’re doing. They say they want to come on board to be Australian. I think that’s very important.

“Are you Australian or are you not Australian? Do you want to just come here and take for granted what this country offers you, but you don’t want to give your love to this nation?”