The far-right BNP has welcomed news that controversial Australian politician Pauline Hanson is emigrating and offered her the chance to restart her stalled career, a report said on Wednesday.
British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin told the Sydney Morning Herald he sympathised with the anti-immigration firebrand’s “persecution” and said she would be “very welcome” to join his organisation.
“I feel very sorry for her … that she has been forced out of her country by this politically correct intimidation and bullying,” Griffin was quoted as saying. “She would not be a sponger. We would regard her as a good addition.”
Hanson told Woman’s Day that she was selling her property and leaving Australia “indefinitely” for Britain after becoming fed up at a lack of opportunities.
She said she had given up on Australian politics and had de-registered her party, Pauline’s United Australia Party, a year after failing to win election to Queensland’s state parliament.
“Sadly, the land of opportunity is no more applicable,” she said.
Griffin described the ex-One Nation leader’s political demise as a “vicious stitch-up” and said she would be welcome to play a role in the BNP.
“Perhaps the last thing she wants is to be in the news. But if she does, perhaps as (Britain’s) most recent immigrant, she will be very welcome if she wants to join and become involved,” he said.
“She has had some very interesting experiences in terms of persecution, and there would be a role for her if she wishes.”
Hanson infamously warned that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians” in her maiden speech to the national parliament in 1996 before losing her seat two years later.
She was briefly jailed in 2003 for fraudulently spending electoral funds before the conviction was quashed, and blamed last year’s poll defeat on the publication of risque photos which turned out to be of someone else.
(source: AFP)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
