‘White Australia’ has always been a myth. Hanson lamenting its end is wrong – and dangerous

The unexpected rise of One Nation in the polls, helped by leader Pauline Hanson’s relationship with mining magnate Gina Rinehart and often uncritical treatment by mainstream media, has seen the reemergence of another historical curio: the White Australia policy. In a podcast interview with UK far-right figure and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson, Hanson declared the origin of her much-discredited claims around “mass migration” was “in 1973 with Gough Whitlam, [who] got rid of the White…