One Nation’s newly unveiled New South Wales leader has responded to a journalist in Japanese, taking a press pack by surprise.
The party has officially announced investment banker and former NSW Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to Japan and Korea Mike Newman as its new NSW leader ahead of the state’s 2027 election.
Stuart Bonds, who previously contended for the federal NSW seat of Hunter, is set to run for a state upper house seat on the One Nation ticket.
Holding a press conference in the Hunter region on Friday, Mr Newman outlined his policy ambitions and responded to reporters’ questions – including one from a Japanese outlet.
“A question from Japan, sorry,” Mr Newman said, before he began to respond in fluent Japanese to the journalist.
The moment appeared not only to take reporters by surprise, but also Ms Hanson, who interjected to suggest to Mr Newman that he should reply in English so everyone could understand.
“Excuse me,” Ms Hanson said.
Mr Newman told the One Nation leader he would “translate straight after”, and Ms Hanson then apologised for the interruption.
“The question was basically, the Japanese large businesses have lost a lot of confidence because of the lack of predictability,” Mr Newman told reporters before continuing his answer in Japanese.
He then clarified to the media pack what he had told the journalist.
“Basically what I’ve told her is that what One Nation will be doing is providing predictability, which is the one thing that Japanese investors crave,” Mr Newman said.
“And (to) make sure that we ring-fence things and make when they invest in this state they are not going to be jacked up with new royalties to help pay for governments that can’t stop their spending addiction.”
The announcement on Friday came after Mr Newman told News24.com.au that he thought his experience well positioned him to diversify One Nation’s political prospects.
“One Nation is not just a one-party policy, we are not a one-trick pony, it is not all about immigration,” Mr Newman told News24 NSW Political Reporter Julia Bradley.
“You have hungry Australians who want to fix this place.”
Mr Newman – son of former ABC chair Maurice Newman – has moved to Australia after 25 years working in Asia.
His decades of experience aboard make Mr Newman a fascinating figurehead for a party proud of its Australia-first monoculture platform.
“We often raise the conversation about monoculture. Japan is a monoculture, Korea is a monoculture. Super successful nations who pride themselves on that thing,” Mr Newman said.
“In Japan or Korea, as long as you respect the core culture, there is no issue with people celebrating their religious faith or cultural events.”
Asked about Ms Hanson’s criticism of Asian immigration in the past and whether One Nation needed to do more to reach out to a more diverse base of voters, Mr Newman said, “Not really”.
“Look my wife is Japanese, if I thought for a fleeting second that they were racist… my business partners are Indians who are absolutely patriotic Aussies. I don’t really see that,” he said.