‘Outrageous and racist’: premier responds to NSW One Nation candidate’s claim Australians are being ‘demographically replaced’

NSW Premier Chris Minns and Australia’s race discrimination commissioner have condemned One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds for claiming that Australians are being “demographically replaced” by migration. Minns called the remarks racist and described replacement theory as an imported conspiracy theory; the commissioner said blaming migrants risks fuelling division and exclusion.

Bonds made the comments at an anti-immigration rally in Sydney, where several hundred people gathered. He is first on One Nation’s NSW upper house ticket and, based on current polling, is likely to win a seat in the March state election. Bonds also questioned whether people arriving recently, including those associated with the Bondi shootings, should be considered as Australian as others; federal Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly said people with migrant backgrounds are not replacing Australians.