The toxic anti-immigration rhetoric that Hanson spreads throughout this country is not new. It is a modern anti-immigration strategy designed for a specific purpose. Immigration itself is NOT the root cause of insecurity, fear, hate & stress around the world. Human migration has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years without antiquated angst. As I’ve said in previous posts - we’ve all been blending together for so long that we are pretty much all of bitzer origin. Any DNA evidence is likely to support that hypothesis. So what are the real issues? Anti-immigration sentiment has spread globally through a combination of factors: -Perceived economic insecurity. -Cultural anxiety. -fast-moving online misinformation. -Political opportunism. -“Cost-of-living crises, housing shortages & post-pandemic recovery struggles lead working-class populations to blame international migrants for local financial stress” (abc). The fact that this state of mind is helped along by RW dog whistling, gaslighting & media/social media fear mongering & misinformation cannot be overstated or underestimated & should be questioned. -“Far right & nationalist groups often frame demographic shifts & Islamic or non-Western immigration as an existential threat to tradition or national identity” (abc news) -“Unverified rumours, manipulated videos & fringe content travel rapidly on platforms like x,Telegram, Facebook & TikTok -turning localised incidents into wide panic”. (National Institute of Health) - & not least important - but the most insidious - is political exploitation of these factors. Look at what is being pushed around the world & you will find a common populist theme. Hardline promises on deportations, border walls & asylum restrictions - all “churned out to capture voter dissatisfaction” (ODI). Populist political movements use emotion to motivate people. They NEED a scapegoat to deflect responsibility for real solutions. Their strategy shifts attention away from the causes of economic & social instability because they don’t have any real answers to urban planning, low investment, low wage growth & tax concessions themselves - but that’s not their real concern or objective anyway. So, how do you distract from the root causes when you have no answers - but you want to create enough chaos & division to make it look like you might have the holy grail tucked into an orifice somewhere? Blame. The. Immigrants. ..those wicked immigrants must be the cause of all your ills.. but only SOME immigrants.. not the ones who are “real” Australian (insert your country of choice here) patriots whose ancestors immigrated here to make a good life for themselves in the last too-many years to count… but anyone else whose skin is suspiciously darker than white, who might speak more than 1 language at home & who might practice a religion that you are told not to like. Jaw dropping hypocrisy, to be sure. Fear mongering, gaslighting & misinforming the masses to make anti-immigration look like the only option, the right option, but suspiciously not the far-right option is in global populist vogue right now. The positive & factual data regarding immigration & immigrants tends to discredit anti-immigration rhetoric - but they don’t want you to look at facts & data. Migration has shaped Australia’s workforce, economy & society. Migrants have added hundreds of billions of dollars to the Australian economy. Migrants fill critical shortages in key areas while also countering an ageing population. Migrants also boost employment rates for Australian-born workers. Fact. Stopping immigration completely in this country would trigger a SEVERE contraction in economic growth, accelerate population ageing & strain public budgets - “while paradoxically failing to provide a quick fix for housing affordability”. Fact. Populism isn’t interested in facts. It is more interested in fear mongering, sensationalism & enabling hate & division to control the narrative. Fact