Australian right-wing lawmaker denounced for comments suggesting there are no ‘good’ Muslims

Australia’s race discrimination watchdog demands an apology over remarks by a hard-right lawmaker targeting Muslims.

Anti-immigration One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson said Monday that Australia should show a “tough stance” against Islam and radicalization.

“Their religion concerns me, because what it says in the Koran: they hate Westerners, and that’s what it’s all about,” the senator told Sky News Australia.

“You say: ‘Oh, well, there’s good Muslims out there’. Well, I’m sorry, how can you — you know — tell me there are good Muslims?”

Comments that “stigmatize and devalue” people serve to increase fear and deepen division, says Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman.

“To those who speak about the importance of social cohesion: you cannot build it by isolating, belittling, or casting suspicion on an entire group of Australians.”

Unity starts with respect, he says in a statement.

“I call on Senator Hanson to withdraw her remarks and offer an apology to Muslim Australians.”

Hanson backpedalled earlier in the day, telling public broadcaster ABC that she did not in fact believe there were no good Muslims.

She added, however, that she was sorry if she offended anyone “that doesn’t believe in sharia law, or multiple marriages, or wants to bring ISIS brides in, or people from Gaza that believe in a caliphate.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said yesterday that her comments were “wrong and cruel,” and unworthy of someone in public office.

Recent opinion polls show Hanson’s One Nation party eclipsing the main right-leaning opposition coalition of Liberal and National parties.

It is unclear how polling for One Nation might translate into general election success, however.

One Nation has one member in the 150-seat federal lower house of parliament and four senators in the 76-seat federal upper house.

Australia’s next general election must be held by May 2028.