‘Racism to white people happening in Australia too’: Pauline Hanson reacts to ‘disturbing’ UK murder
Pauline Hanson says Australia risks becoming a “two-tier culture like Britain’s” after the horrific murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak.
Pauline Hanson says Australia risks becoming a “two-tier culture like Britain’s” and that “racism towards white people is happening” here too, weighing in on the UK stabbing murder of a white student by a Sikh man who then falsely accused his victim of racism.
The One Nation leader told news.com.au on Friday that the bodycam video of 18-year-old Henry Nowak’s treatment by British police, who handcuffed the teen as be bled to death on the ground, was “very disturbing”.
“I agree with [Reform UK leader] Nigel Farage’s assessment that white people in Britain appear to be treated less favourably than others,” Ms Hanson said.
“The British people have every right to be angry about this.”
Riots erupted in the southern city of Southampton this week after the release of the harrowing footage showing the teen repeatedly pleading “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” to officers who refused to believe the victim, sparking a political firestorm in the UK over alleged “two-tier policing” in favour of ethnic minorities.
“Racism towards white people is happening in Australia too – even in parliament,” Ms Hanson said.
“We also see it in our education system and the public service.”
“This is why we must turn this around in Australia starting now, or else head down the path where we end up a two-tier culture like Britain’s.”
Her comments come after “Black Lives Matter” supporting Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe spoke out about the case, calling for police to be “held accountable for their (alleged) role” in the 18-year-old’s death.
Mr Farage this week called for an end to “anti-white prejudice”. “White lives matter just as much as black lives,” he said in a video.
Senator Lidia Thorpe. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire
As the US officially weighs in, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hits out at American tech tycoon Elon Musk for stoking “division”, Ms Thorpe told The Australian, “the way this young man was treated by police was absolutely terrible, and the police should be held accountable for their role in this death in custody”.
The independent Senator from Victoria was one of the most vocal supporters of the BLM movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
“In the UK, just like in Australia, police too often respond with force to people who need help; victims are frequently misidentified as perpetrators,” she said.
“Data shows these harms disproportionately impact people of colour, but poor policing standards put everyone at risk. We need better standards across policing, and independent investigations into all deaths in custody, not police investigating police. No one, regardless of their background, should die in custody; and when they do, there must be full accountability for police involved.”
Ms Thorpe maintained that people of colour were “disproportionately subject to police use of force” and that the “Black Lives Matter movement reflected the documented evidence of disproportionate harm to people of colour at the hands of police”.
Henry Nowak was handcuffed as he bled to death. Picture: Supplied
‘Civilizational decline’
Meanwhile the United States has taken a swing, lobbing criticism at UK authorities.
“Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilisational decline. They must be rejected across the West,” the US State Department said in a post on X on Thursday, shared by Musk.
“The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”
Musk, who owns the social media site, has been the most prominent voice drawing attention to the case and has offered to fund a private prosecution against Hampshire Police over its handling of the murder.
“The West has created an utterly evil state religion where an accusation of ‘racism’ is the gravest offense that can be committed, even worse than rape or murder!” he wrote this week.
“So if police show up at a crime scene and a British boy is bleeding out and an immigrant says the British boy is racist the cops will cuff the dying British boy.”
Vickrum Digwa told police he had been racially abused. Picture: @ZiaYusufUK/X
In another post, he asked whether people knew that “official police policy requires them to be racist against Whites?”
Mr Starmer on Thursday accused the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX owner of “trying to whip up division” in Britain.
The PM met Mr Nowak’s mother, father and stepmother at Downing Street on Thursday evening. They spent around an hour inside.
Afterwards, Mr Starmer said the country must “choose unity and progress over division and hatred”, calling this “the only way to honour Henry’s memory”.
“We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain,” he told reporters.
“In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case … we react calmly, as his family have done.”
Mr Nowak’s father has pleaded that his son’s murder should not be used “to create further division, hatred or tension”.
Henry Nowak’s father departs from 10 Downing Street. Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP
‘You’ve been stabbed?’
Sikh man Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years after he was last week found guilty of murder and carrying a knife in public, following a two-week trial in Southampton Crown Court.
Digwa, described by prosecutors as obsessed with weapons, stabbed first-year finance student five times with an eight-inch ceremonial blade as the teen made his way home from a night out with his football team members last December.
His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender after she picked up the knife used in the killing and ran back to stash it in the family home.
Digwa’s brother, Gurpreet Digwa, 27, and his father, Moga Singh, 52, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with weapons offences.
Bodycam footage showed Mr Nowak repeatedly saying “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” as arriving officers instead sided with his killer, who — along with his assembled family members — falsely claimed he had been racially abused and assaulted.
“You’ve been stabbed? Whereabouts? I don’t think you have, mate,” one officer tells a dying Mr Nowak in the footage.
Protesters outside Southampton Central Police Station. Picture: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
11 cops injured in riots
Eleven police officers and a police dog were injured after cops were pelted with bricks, bins, flares and chairs in violent protests that erupted in the southern city of Southampton on Tuesday, after the bodycam footage was released.
More than a thousand protesters had gathered outside the main police station in Southampton on Tuesday evening, chanting “two-tier scum” and “shame on you”, before a smaller group marched to the St Denys residential area near where the crime took place and attacked a line of riot police.
“Some of what we saw yesterday was unacceptable,” Police Minister Sarah Jones said on Wednesday.
Around 1000 people marched through the city. Picture: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
“There have been two arrests … one for assault of a police officer, one for possession of a weapon. We can’t allow – and the family have said we do not want to create further division, hatred, or tension, and I think we need to respect that.”
Mr Starmer said there was “no justification” for violence at the Southampton protest.
A 44-year-old man pleaded guilty on Thursday to violent disorder and carrying an offensive weapon. Another person has been charged with assault.
The PM said it was “unforgivable” that Mr Farage, whose Reform UK party is leading in the polls, had called for people to respond to the murder with “pure cold rage”.
Mr Farage, who has been accused of stoking racial tensions with his remarks, has defended his comments.
Clashes broke out between protesters and riot police. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP
Anti-racism guidance to be reviewed
Mr Starmer has called the bodycam footage of Mr Nowak’s death “harrowing” and said there were “difficult questions that need to be answered about the way the police handled Henry’s murder”.
“We will be unflinching in taking whatever action is required to right the wrongs in this case,” he added.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog is investigating and is expected to report back within the next three months.
An inquest into whether police contributed to Nowak’s death will open in front of a jury in September 2027, officials announced Thursday.
Digwa was jailed for life by a UK court this week. Picture: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary/AFP
Ms Jones has conceded that a police anti-racism document highlighted by Mr Farage “gives the wrong impression”, as police chiefs pledged to review the guidance.
The IOPC is reviewing a guidance document from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which says its goal of “producing equality of policing outcomes … does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’”.
“This particular document is a sort of values document, it’s quite a short document, and I don’t think it forms the basis of any training or any police activity,” Ms Jones told BBC Radio.
“It is an official NPCC document, yes, and it is being reviewed we think the language is wrong and it gives the wrong impression but I don’t think it affects how our training is done. People are right to ask questions when they’ve seen such a horrific incident and we will be listening and learning the lessons and there is a history … of racism within policing that forms part of the policing picture when you are trained.”
