Hanson vows to shut prayer halls that preach hatred

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has pledged to close prayer halls where hatred is preached and deport foreign preachers who incite violence, telling a Melbourne business audience that radical Islam had been “allowed to fester” in Australia.

Addressing an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday, the Queensland senator said the Bondi attack was not an isolated incident.

“It was a radical Islam problem, one that has been allowed to fester,” she said.

“I want the power to shut down the prayer halls where this hatred is preached. I want foreign preachers who incite violence on a plane out of this country, I want the ones born here in front of a judge, and I want ASIO and the federal police to have all the resources they need to do it.”

Senator Hanson pointed to a Melbourne preacher reported last month to have told his followers to take up arms against Christians and Jews. She accused the government of writing hate laws that treated all Australians as suspects rather than naming the threat.