One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has endorsed a Trump-style deportation plan, saying she supported offering people overstaying their visas a one-way plane ticket home.

Speaking at an event in Perth, WA, on Tuesday, Ms Hanson said Australia needed to take a tougher approach to against people who remained in the country without a valid visa.

“I’ll tell you what I do like – Trump said, ‘Okay, all those that are in the country illegally, I’ll actually give you a one-way ticket out of the country’,” Ms Hanson said.

“He said, then you can apply to come back in some time later. But if you don’t go, he said if we find you, you’ll never get back in the country again.

“Over two million took that one-way ticket and 600,000 they had to round up. So, fine, I think that’s a great way of doing it.”

According to recent figures released under freedom of information, about 77,700 people were living in Australia illegally at the end of last financial year.

Ms Hanson’s comments come as immigration remains one of the strongest issues for voters, with One Nation ranked number one to tackle the issue.

The May Sky News Pulse / YouGov poll found 36 per cent of Australians viewed One Nation as the political party best placed to manage immigration.

The same poll found 62 per cent of voters wanted migration reduced, including 44 per cent who wanted a “big decrease”.

The polling came after Labor revised migration forecasts upwards, with net overseas migration expected to reach about 1.2 million people between 2025 and 2030.

Ms Hanson also responded to critics on Tuesday, pushing back against claims she supported a “White Australia” policy.

Ms Hanson said her position was based on selecting migrants who would integrate into Australian society, rather than only white people.

“It’s not about skin colour, it’s not about your race, colour, creed. It’s who you are, that you stand up for the values and for this nation,” she said.

Ms Hanson was responding to claims she endorsed White Australia policy in an interview with far-right UK activist Tommy Robinson.

Asked in the interview about where issues with Pakistani and African migrants began, she pointed to the end of White Australia policy.

“Well, it started in 1973 with Gough Whitlam, so they opened up and got rid of the White Australia policy. Then they started bringing in the different migrants,” she said.

“A lot of people came out after the Second World War, say Italians, Germans, Polish and these people, but they integrated into the system.

“A lot of them couldn’t speak English, but they learnt to speak English. They had to go and work. A lot of them came… with only a pound in their pocket.

“But over the decades, as the governments have changed… a lot of people come in to Australia purely for the welfare system or to get on our NDIS.

“A lot of them are ripping the system off who are a lot from the Muslim areas and they’re getting on the scheme, but there’s a lot of Aussies too.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke later condemned Ms Hanson, suggesting she had advocated for a return to White Australia.

“I never thought when I entered parliament that in my political lifetime anyone who had been elected to parliament would be calling for White Australia,” he said.

“Part of saying you love Australia is to love Australia for who we are. Not some perverted concept of a country where we would turn on each other.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also lashed out at Ms Hanson, suggesting she had said removing the White Australia policy was wrong.

“I have seen Senator Hanson’s comments that say that Australia has got it wrong when we moved away from the White Australia policy in 1973,” he said.

“It is important to recognise that the movement away from White Australia wasn’t just the Labor government… it was actually a bi-partisan position that began in the 1960s.

“Modern Australia is made up of, with the exception of First Nations people, people who’ve come from all over the world to make Australia their home.

“Prejudice is something that isn’t normal, isn’t intrinsic to human endeavour, it’s something that is taught.

“Political leaders have a responsibility to promote social cohesion in this country and that’s what I want to see.”

Speaking from London over the weekend, Ms Hanson rejected White Australia and said people were trying to discredit her.

“Well, I’m in London about to attend a dinner, but I had to bring to your attention the comments by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian,” she said.

“You know those two leftist organisations that want to try and destroy myself and One Nation and discredit me?

“They’re false allegations that I wanted to introduce the White Australia policy. Not the case. Never, ever have I advocated that, and I don’t believe in it as well.”