Aussie Election Results

[Thumpalumpacus]

Is she like an Australian Margaret Thatcher or something?

No. Thatcher was a part of a major party - Pauline was a member of a major party (Liberal), but she was kicked out of the party for her nationalist views (and in particular her views on Aboriginal "benefits"). Therefore the Liberals were unable to run a candidate, and she attracted all the Liberal vote, and campaigned well and won enough votes to get elected in 1996 federal election. She believes firmly that she represents the views of Australians - and while she might be partially right in some areas, overall she does not at all embrace Australian values. Multiculturalism is a central Aussie value, but she believes in assimilation - a policy based on 18th and 19th century "wisdom". Yes some people do assimilate more than others, but that doesn't mean that all do. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was in Australia a few months ago spreading that same bigotry, and I don't know why she was given a forum and allowed to appear on shows such as Q&A to spread her bullshit. She claimed that "multiculturalism has never worked" repeatedly: but it does work for Australia, and it also worked for the Ancient Roman Empire. So to suggest otherwise is completely disingenuous. If you oppress people you will cause them to react violently and do terrorist acts. That's why Palestinians do it. It's not because they're bad people - it's because they're horribly oppressed, they aren't allowed to work, their land has been stolen (and stolen in the very real sense that Israel does not respect the UN Two State solution). That's not to excuse any violent terrorist type acts, but just to explain that such policies make things much worse, not better.

The unquestioned premise in this post is that assimilation automatically equals oppression. Oftentimes people assimilate voluntarily.