For all Pauline Hanson’s talk of closing Australia’s borders to Muslim people, after last night’s episode of Q&A on the ABC, one can’t help but wonder if she has ever even come into contact with someone of Muslim background before.
In response to Pauline Hanson’s extreme policy documents suggesting that all Muslims should be banned from entering Australia, fellow panelist Iranian born Sam Dastyari told his family’s story.
When he revealed that he was brought up Muslim, Pauline Hanson gave him a piercing glare. Unshaken, he continued to tell her the story of his family fleeing Iran, looked her straight in the eye and posing the question: “Does that mean a 5-year-old Sam Dastyari should never have been allowed to set foot in Australia, because somewhere in Tehran there’s a document that says beside my name the word ‘Muslim’ because of where I was born?”
“Are you a Muslim?” she replied. “You’re a practicing Muslim? This is quite interesting. I didn’t know that about you.”
At this point, Greens senator Larissa Waters jumped in and joked: “What? Because he doesn’t have three heads?”
Pauline Hanson went on to support Sonia Kruger’s controversial comments about banning Muslims refugees from entering the country, and essentially confirmed that she would not allow a 5-year-old Sam Dastyari to enter the country in today’s circumstances.
Sam Dastyari emphasised that his family had arrived on the 16th of January, 1988, and that they had done ‘nothing but contribute to this country’ ever since.
Watch the entire exchange here:
