'I won't sell house to Muslim'

Ms Hanson, who says she is moving to Britain because she has 'had enough' and wants some peace in her life, has always maintained her views are not racist. -- PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIAN firebrand politician Pauline Hanson, who once claimed Asians were in danger of swamping the country, Wednesday said she would not sell her house to a Muslim because they did not fit with 'our way of life'.

Pauline Hanson, who rose to prominence in the 1990s as head of the right-wing, anti-immigration One Nation Party, is selling her Queensland home to emigrate to Britain. She said she had no intention of letting a Muslim buy the property. 'Because I don't believe that they are compatible with our way of life, our culture,' she told commercial television.

'And I think we are going to have problems with them in this country further down the track, so I have no intention of selling my home to a Muslim.' Ms Hanson, who gained popularity spearheading a movement which she claims merely bucked 'political correctness", also said she would not sell her property to an Asian who did not live in the country.

But she said she would have no problem with handing the US$1 million (S$1.26 million) rural homestead over to 'an Australian who is of Asian background'.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd refused to respond directly to the comments from Ms Hanson, a former fish and chip shop owner who was elected to the national parliament in 1996 and claimed 'we are in danger of being swamped by Asians' in her maiden speech.

Ms Hanson, who says she is moving to Britain because she has 'had enough' and wants some peace in her life, has always maintained her views are not racist. -- AFP