‘I love migrants’: One Nation MP Jason Virgo breaks down during maiden speech in South Australia parliament

AU, May 25 — A newly elected One Nation MP has broken down during an emotional maiden speech, telling South Australia’s parliament he has a Muslim boyfriend from Indonesia and loves migrants .

Jason Virgo won the MacKillop seat in the South Australian House of Assembly at the state election earlier this year.

One Nation is widely associated with anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ positions, but Mr Virgo s speech appeared to turn that policy on its head.

I have been openly gay throughout my entire adult life, Mr Virgo told the house. I do not wave the flag in the air as I walk down the street. I prefer people to find out these things naturally And if someone does seek to weaponise who I am, that says more about them than it does about me.

The new MP then fought back tears as he turned to the subject of his immigrant partner, Rhisang Alfarid, paying tribute to him as the love of my life and thanking him for his support.

Rhisang was born in Indonesia. A Muslim, and is now a proud Australian, he continued.

Our closest friendship circle is made up largely of immigrants, from China, India and the Philippines.

I love migrants. The overwhelming majority are simply searching for a better life. But two things can be true at once, and I do believe migration levels in recent years have been too high.

In some parts of the country, employers were crying out for workers, but in others, communities simply want time for housing and infrastructure to catch up, he said.

In some places, both are true. After years of policy failure, too many Australians are homeless that reality has weakened public confidence in our migration system.

Australians rightly expect governments to ensure our own citizens can access housing and opportunity first.

Mr Virgo s speech caused a stir online, with critics suggesting he was a trojan horse within One Nation because of his relatively liberal background.

Some pointed out he was a former Labor party member who had also run as a candidate for the Australian Sex Party, a now defunct party founded in 2009 amid concerns about the perceived growing influence of religion in Australian politics.

It s looking more and more like One Nation is a hodgepodge of opportunists with no real cohesion other than the desire for power, one wrote.

But former One Nation candidate for Mawson, Tyler Green, argued Mr Virgo s success made it much harder to label every One Nation voter or MP as some cartoon racist or homophobe .

New polling has revealed that Pauline Hanson’s One Nation could win as many as 59 seats if a federal election were held today.

It came as a shock new poll revealed One Nation could win as many as 59 seats if a federal election were held today , wiping out key seats for Labor and the Coalition.

Research from Redbridge Group and Accent Research showed the result would force Labor into a minority government and take out the Coalition in all but three states and territories, representing a significant shift towards the surging right-wing party.

According to the modelling, One Nation would win between 46 and 59 seats, with a median of 53 as it would swipe 37 seats off the Coalition and 16 seats off Labor.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson downplayed the result on Sunday, telling Sky News while it was very encouraging it is only a poll .

The real poll is on election day. But it does tell me we ve still got a little bit to do, Senator Hanson said.

She added that voters on the street had told her we need you, you re our last hope .

They re destitute, they really are, she said. The cost of living is impacting on them. Businesses, especially, with this budget that s been handed down by the Labor Party, the agricultural sector, the mining sector.

Mr Virgo was a Mount Gambier City councillor up until March, when he resigned from his council seat to become the new MP for MacKillop.