Thinking of immigrating to Australia? You might want to think again.

On Monday, a motion against the supposed “deplorable rise of anti-white racism” was narrowly – too narrowly – voted down in the Australian Senate. Keep in mind that 70% of the population in Australia is of European descent, which means that the indigenous population is in the minority.

The Aboriginal population, who have occupied Australia for 50 000 years, were dispossessed of their land 200 years ago, and make up only three percent of the population.

Embarrassed officials are now scrambling to explain how members of the conservative party backed the motion, blaming an “administrative process failure”, reports Mail & Guardian.

The resolution that was tabled in the Senate was drafted by the populist political instigator Pauline Hanson (above and below).

The motion was narrowly defeated 31-28, with several government ministers voting in favour, including its top official for indigenous affairs.

It emerged Tuesday that Attorney General Christian Porter had issued instructions to senators from the governing Liberal party to back Hanson’s motion. Following the vote, Porter tweeted, “The Government Senators’ actions in the Senate this afternoon confirm that the Government deplores racism of any kind.”

The slogan behind the motion “it’s okay to be white” was originated by trolls on 4chan, which is a comforting thought if you’d like politicians to start taking their advice from trolls on 4chan.

The vote in favour of a white supremacist slogan sparked a furious backlash and demands for the resignations of ministers who backed the motion.

Here’s the 28 senators that just voted in favour of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s “It is OK to be white” motion. List includes government ministers Mitch Fifield, Michaelia Cash, Simon Birmingham, Nigel Scullion (indigenous minister), Bridget McKenzie, Matt Canavan. pic.twitter.com/e56w9LlbIZ

— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) October 15, 2018

On Tuesday, Porter issued a statement saying he had not been aware of an email sent by his office advising senators to back the motion, which he said had been “interpreted in my office as a motion opposing racism”.

Here is the email in question. – you can decide whether or not it’s easily misinterpreted:

Didn’t think so. According to CNN, Hanson had the following to say about her white supremacist agenda.

“People have a right to be proud of their cultural background, whether they are black, white or brindle. If we cannot agree on this, I think it’s safe to say anti-white racism is well and truly rife in our society,”

Listen, Pauline, to my knowledge no one has ever stopped white people from being proud of their heritage. Maybe some understanding that being white in Australia comes with a little privilege would go a long way, though.

Senate tried to turn things around by playing up the fact that a slim majority voted against the motion, claiming that it proves that the government isn’t racist.

Anyone with a brain can see that a country, responsible for, amongst other things, that racist cartoon of Serena Williams and a far-right senator who called for “a final solution” to immigration back in August, has a lot of work to do.

[source:mg&cnn]