Mr Yanner said Ms Hanson was unwelcome.
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Hanson rose from pariah to celebrity on Dancing with the Stars; Australia meanwhile lived through the Cronulla Riots, Stop the Boats, and growing anti-Muslim sentiment today.
“It is the politics of picking one section of our community – pitting one section of our community against another section of our community, about simplifying complex problems and placing the blame on one group at one point in time”.
What they got was a weird moment when Hanson asked Mr Dastyari if he was “really Muslim” as he told his story of how his family came to Australia from Iran when he was five years old. “I didn’t know that about you”.
Confronted by this road block, Hanson did as Hanson does – asked to recite the alphabet, she goes for broke and throws it in the air to see what lands.
Hanson: “Were you sworn in under the Koran?”
“Then it became about we’re being swamped by Asians and now it’s about blaming Muslims and the Muslim community”, Dastyari said.
Mr Dastyari made a tongue-and-cheek response commenting that Ms Hanson was “reconsidering” to which Ms Hanson responded firmly: ‘No I’m not’. “This is quite interesting”.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters interjected: “Because he doesn’t have three heads?”
“We are a Christian country and I don’t believe that Islam is compatible with our culture and our way of life and that’s why we have problems in Australia on the streets and a lot of people are opposing the mosques that are built here”.
“Seriously, would you be prepared to sit down with Muslims, and particularly with his family, since he’s offered, and try and understand things from their perspective?” host Tony Jones asked.
Ms Hanson didn’t answer the question immediately but instead expressed surprise that Dastyari – who once offered to take Ms Hanson to enjoy a “Halal Snack Pack” – was a Muslim. “Would you kindly accept my invitation?” Upon receiving the explanation that it was assorted kebab meats, apparently unaware that haram is something forbidden under Islamic law, the opposite of halal, she replied: “Sure, we can talk”.
The other panelists – education minister Simon Birmingham, Nick Xenophon Team leader Nick Xenophon, Waters, and, most frequently, Dastyari – interjected on occasion to make it clear that they did not share Hanson’s views.
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He said he did but the Coalition would work with the crossbenchers in good faith.
