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The National party’s Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, has used an appearance at a conference of the populist right in London to declare that conservatives are “in a war” against mass immigration, “leftwing globalists” and “woke” institutions, and to urge rightwing movements across the English-speaking world to unite and fight back.
McKenzie was speaking at the inaugural CPAC GB in London, a British spinoff of the influential US Conservative Political Action Conference, organised by the former British prime minister Liz Truss. She gave a speech on Saturday morning before appearing on a panel chaired by Truss, alongside other rightwing figures.
The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, also attended the event, part of a British tour that has drawn sustained criticism at home.
McKenzie’s speech focused on Australia’s immigration program, saying Labor would oversee ۲ million additional arrivals between ۲۰۲۲-۲۳ and ۲۰۲۷-۲۸ and arguing the country should be more selective about who was allowed to settle there.
The federal Labor government has left Australia’s permanent migration level steady at ۱۸۵,۰۰۰ arrivals this year. Net overseas migration fell to ۳۰۶,۰۰۰ people in ۲۰۲۴–۲۵, down from ۴۲۹,۰۰۰ a year earlier, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
“If you love your country and respect your past and want to build a future for your children, I believe you shouldn’t be apologising for discriminating about who can come and live in your country, not on race, but on values,” McKenzie said.
“If you believe sharia laws are superior to the laws that my great country inherited from yours, then I’m afraid Australia is not the place for you.”
She framed many of the issues facing Australia and Britain as part of a broader ideological struggle, claiming there was a global effort “to undermine the very best of our British heritage by leftwing globalists”, whom she described as well-funded, disciplined and relentless.
“We need to professionalise, because our opponent is real, dangerous and wants to destroy us. And our own compassion, kindness, tolerance – all those great Christian values – are literally allowing them to do it to us,” she said.
“Do not mistake. We are in a war and we have to stand together and fight.”
In a rallying call to the audience, she said: “We need to be brave in our public conversations … The people need leaders who are brave enough to face the enemy, strong enough to fight them, and in the end, we will defeat them.”
She also claimed Australians were not being consulted on key issues, including transgender rights and net-zero energy policies.
On the panel, she argued that Australia had become “the most woke” country in the Anglosphere and claimed successive governments had undermined national sovereignty through high levels of immigration, net-zero policies and decisions taken by unelected bodies rather than elected politicians.
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Hanson has been criticised at home for divisive comments about migration levels and multiculturalism while in London.
Labor frontbencher Andrew Charlton said the One Nation leader was not addressing the most pressing issues facing Australia today.
“Australia is a multicultural country,” he told Sky News on Sunday morning.
“Waves of migrants have added a huge amount to our country, and I just think it’s incredibly divisive to be saying that some groups should be here and suggest that other groups shouldn’t be here.”
The deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, said she condemned the One Nation leader’s comments and her appearance with the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
“I think that they were unnecessary,” Hume told Sky. “They were divisive. They were inflammatory, and they were totally un-Australian,” Hume said.
“That’s not the way we operate in Australia. We have had a proud history of multiculturalism. We’re a great migrant nation.”
