PAULINE Hanson’s decision to hold One Nation’s Victorian Senate campaign launch in Bendigo has nothing to do with the recent opposition in the city to a proposed mosque, she says.
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Ms Hanson – who has actively campaigned against the spread of Islam in Australia – will visit Bendigo on Saturday for the launch with One Nation’s lead Senate candidate for Victoria Elise Chapman at the Shamrock Hotel.
Despite recent tensions over the planned mosque, Ms Hanson said Bendigo was “not unlike any other place in Victoria or Australia” and that her focus was on a broad range of matters.
“There are far greater issues in Australia,” she said.
Those issues included the loss of jobs, the impact of drugs, terrorism and the foreign ownership of “prime agricultural land”.
“(There are) more important issues on my radar,” she said, adding that it was “up to the people of Bendigo” when it came to decisions on a mosque. “We’re in dire straits economically ... (and) heading for a recession.”
Ms Chapman is the lead – and so far the only – One Nation Senate candidate for Victoria.
Saturday’s launch was originally scheduled to be held at the Foundry Hotel Complex in Golden Square before management, facing a public backlash, cancelled the event.
One Nation has said issues set to be discussed at the launch include farmers’ rights when it came to water, the GST, terrorism, Halal certification and family law.
The party has been advertising discounted tickets this week. Tickets to the lunch have otherwise been priced at $95. Ms Hanson said she did not know how many tickets had been sold or how many people the venue could hold.
“What I’m pleased about is that people are coming along to listen. They will make up their minds … at the ballot box,” she said.
Ms Hanson said she would be “disgusted” if people were protesting against the One Nation event outside the Shamrock.
“We live in a democracy,” she said.
If people didn’t agree with what her party stood for, Ms Hanson added, they could make their feelings known at the ballot box.
But when asked, Ms Hanson acknowledged she had spoken at Reclaim Australia events.
Ms Hanson spoke at a rally in Rockhampton last year where she reportedly said she was “against the spread of Islam”.