Key facts
- One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts advocates for deporting 200,000 visa holders, including temporary residents and students.
- Roberts uses the term 'remigration' to describe the proposed deportations.
- One Nation's official policy website pledges to deport 75,000 illegal migrants.
- Pauline Hanson has previously stated domestic violence is 'used as a weapon' in court and criticized paid domestic violence leave.
- Malcolm Roberts described the family court system as the 'slaughterhouse of the nation'.
Senator Malcolm Roberts of Australia's One Nation party has publicly stated the party's intention to deport a significantly higher number of individuals than its official policy suggests. In recent podcast interviews, Roberts claimed One Nation aims to remove approximately 100,000 temporary residents and 100,000 international students who are in the country illegally. He repeatedly used the term 'remigration' to describe these deportations, a concept that has drawn criticism for its association with far-right and white supremacist ideologies.
Roberts' statements suggest a deportation target of at least 200,000 people, exceeding the party's published policy of deporting 75,000 illegal migrants. He indicated a desire to 'get rid of them straight away' and 'start working on the higher numbers of people we need to get rid of.' These comments follow comments by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who expressed enthusiasm for 'mass deportation' after meeting with the leader of a hard-right British party.
Separately, One Nation's stance on the family law system has come under renewed scrutiny. Pauline Hanson stated on a 2021 podcast that domestic violence was being 'used as a weapon' in court proceedings and criticized domestic violence groups for focusing on support for women. She also described paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as 'ridiculous' and 'domestic violence holiday leave,' suggesting it should not be tied to employment and that employers should not be responsible for it. The federal Labor government legislated 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave annually as a workplace entitlement in 2022.
Malcolm Roberts also criticized the family court system, describing it as the 'slaughterhouse of the nation' and stating it is set up to divide, make money for lawyers, and 'smash the family.' Hanson later claimed her recent comments on domestic violence had been taken 'out of context' and denied she had downplayed the issue.