Last week, Australian politician Pauline Hanson announced that she would ask the Senate “to acknowledge the terrible impact immigration would have on the Sentinelese people”. The Sentinelese are an indigenous people who inhabit in the Andaman Islands of India. The tribe is almost entirely shut off from the rest of the world, but occupied news headlines all over the world for killing an American Missionary.

John Allen Chau, a young American missionary with a misguided notion that Bible and his ideas of God are the only right thing in the world, tried to contact the island tribe to convert them to Christianity. He paid with his life for his stupidity.

In reference to the incident Ms Hanson told the SBS News, “I for one will not be condemning the Sentinelese as racist for keeping their borders closed, nor will I condemn them for their lack of diversity,”

Whether we like it or not, Ms Hanson should not be blamed for her views. But the same scenario happened in Australia more than two centuries ago. If today’s aboriginal population, unhappy with the series of events that took place since the European arrival, wants to settle the score with the Hanson family as a symbolic act of revenge, they can’t be blamed for that either. The world we see today is shaped by wars and occupations and what happened in Australia two centuries ago was perfectly in line with the world order of those days. The world history is full of winners and losers and unfortunately losers are never treated well by the winners and never had a say in the new world created by the winners. The aborigines of Australia were the losers and appropriately, they vanished and washed away from the future of Australia. Since then, whatever privileges the aboriginal tribes enjoyed in Australia were the mercy of the winners.

Though may sound racist, Australia needs politicians like Pauline Hanson, because they represent the views of a large section of society, who are afraid to express their views for the fear of being stamped as racists. If politicians like Pauline are shunned out of the political process for standing against the values, we think should represent a modern society, a frustrated section of society will undergo a pressure cooker effect and the outbursts may turn violent. As far as a nation is concerned, there are no rights and wrongs, in the future course of action it wants to take. Whether Australia embraces or rejects Multiculturalism outright, it will still remain sensible , if Australians are prepared to swallow the future consequences.

If we take a second look at what Pauline has been saying over the years, we may find some of her opinions on multiculturalism, too shallow to be considered for a debate. But in a democratic process, every opinion count.

In 2017, after the London Terror attack, Pauline called Islam a “disease” which Australia needed to “vaccinate” against and advocated for a ban on Muslim immigration.

Considering the hate crimes committed by the Muslim Community in Australia, including the recent incident in Melbourne, which we prefer to call as “Acts of Terrorism”, it is in the best interests of Australia to control Muslim migration. The real fact is that, these acts of terrorism are insignificant considering the atrocities Western countries and Australia commit against the Muslims in the Middle East and around the world. But do we have to make Australia a place for settling the scores for the disgruntled Muslims? Definitely not. So Pauline is right in saying that Australia should ban Muslim Migration as we have not yet found a way to separate good Muslims from bad Muslims. Pauline also wants to ban the burqa and niqab, as well as halal certification and Muslim schools. The truth is; there are no rights and wrongs and it is a decision Australia needs to take as a nation.   Either way it will have long standing consequences, which the people of Australia must be prepared to face.

In 2006 Pauline Hanson called for African immigration to Australia to be halted because “they’ve got AIDS” and are “no benefit to this country whatsoever”.

Six years later Pauline’s remarks came to be true. Australia in general and Melbourne in particular is suffering from the ill effects of African migration to Australia. When Somalian thugs ransack houses, and businesses and engage in car jacking and destroying properties, on a daily basis, in and around Melbourne, one can’t be blamed for supporting Pauline Hanson. It is no wonder that Pauline also called for an end to multiculturalism.

In 1996, Ms Hanson said Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians.

For those who have lived in Australia, in the 80’s and 90’s, the sudden increase in Asian population looked a bit scary. The Indians and the Chinese were making the most of the relaxed immigration rules which turned out to be an unexpected boon to the long suffering citizens of world’s two most populated nations. Asian migration to Australia has its advantages and disadvantages. As India and China claim their stake as the future super powers of the world, the increased intake of Asians will immensely benefit Australia in the future as trade ties widen.  But in the short term it has definitely brought in the culture of corruption and decreased the living standards of Australians as the Asians were willing to take up jobs for lower wages. Usually the Anglo-Saxon elite are more than happy to see the Asians taking up menial jobs for lower wages, but this time the situation was different. The highly educated Asians carved up a larger part of the plum jobs, leaving the tradie jobs for Australians which created resentment in the Australian society. The attack against Indians that took place from 2005 to 2012 were direct result of this resentment.

Contrary to the popular view shared by minority groups in Australia, Pauline Hanson is a necessity to bring balance to the political debate in Australia on multiculturalism. If any time in the future, if such elements are shunned out of the political process in the name of fairness, violent outbursts of frustration among the majority community will take its place for sure. The success of multiculturalism depends on how best the ethnic communities assimilate. We have been making judgements on multiculturalism, based on our experiences with first generation migrants who find it hard to jettison old habits. But if we look at the success stories of second-generation migrants and how best they have melted into the wider Australian society upholding Australian values, we will realise that the concerns raised by politicians like Pauline Hanson are limited to the first-generation migrants who bring in an alien culture and alien mannerisms. People from more than 200 countries live in Australia and along with them, they bring in beautiful colours of diversity and colourless politicians like Pauline Hanson will fade away for sure.