The prime minister says the country must be "vigilant" against politicians seeking to return to a bygone era of Australia that was less accepting of migrants, following the South Australian election in which One Nation overtook the Liberal Party on a platform that included opposing migration and multiculturalism.
With just over half of the vote counted, One Nation has received about 22 per cent of the vote in SA, with the Liberals trailing behind at 19 per cent — an enormous 16.9 per cent swing against the party, almost entirely to the benefit of One Nation.
One Nation's federal party proposes deporting about 75,000 migrants currently residing in Australia on overstayed visas, capping visas to 130,000 a year, and banning migration from countries "known to foster extremist ideologies".
The party also opposes multiculturalism.
Barnaby Joyce, who defected to One Nation last year, told Sky News this morning that if people were upset by the party's demand for assimilation, "then be upset".
"When you get cultural Balkanisation, you get friction, you get heat, you get death," Mr Joyce said.
"We took a long while to get over the Catholic-Protestant thing, and we don't want to go back there again.
"There has got to be a form of assimilation … you have to conform with an Australian culture no matter where you come from."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-22/albanese-defends-multiculturalism-after-o...How is any of that 'extreme'?