One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Australia’s Welcome to Country tradition, claiming politicians are using it as an act of “virtue signalling”.
Hanson, who has a long history of controversial statements, says she is “very tired” of being “left out” of the short speech at the beginning of major events, which has become a customary act across the nation since Ernie Dingo and Richard Walley’s first modern Welcome to Country in 1976.
“It is common for politicians to be booed at events but some Australians were shocked that Anthony Albanese would get such a hostile reaction while trying to deliver a so-called ‘Welcome to Country’,” she wrote on her official Facebook page.
“I don’t know about you but I am very tired of being left out of the ‘welcome’ to my own country.”
The senator said the tradition was mainly in place to boost the egos of politicians, and was another example of “left-wing pandering” making its way into everyday life.
“Some of you might not realise but this ‘welcome to country’ isn’t some ancient tradition. It is a modern invention,” Hanson continued.
“Just one of the many overused methods of left-wing virtue signalling that shoehorns politics and pandering into everyday life.”
“We shouldn’t be elevating one group above others. We are all Australians equally sharing our country together. That’s why you won’t ever hear me welcoming people to their own country.”
The One Nation figurehead, who has also secured LNP defector George Christensen for an unlikely Senate tilt, announced last week she would have a candidate in all 151 lower house seats at the polls on May 21st.
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This article first appeared on OverSixty.