Refugee lawyer gives One Nation Socceroos supporters ‘two options’

Sarah Dale, a refugee lawyer and centre director at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, has issued an ultimatum to One Nation supporters who say they back the Socceroos at the World Cup despite opposing migrants. In a column, Dale argued that Socceroos st

For many people, watching the Socceroos at the World Cup has felt like a rare kind of togetherness. For one refugee advocate, it has also become a test of loyalty to a wider idea of Australia.

Sarah Dale—centre director and principal lawyer at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service—used a column headlined “Under Hanson, Socceroos heroes would never have called Australia home” to confront One Nation supporters who celebrated the team while opposing migrants and refugees.

Dale pointed to Nestory Irankunda’s strike against Turkey as a moment that deserves context beyond the highlight reel. “This was a goal that began in a refugee camp. ” she wrote. adding that Irankunda and his teammates Awer Mabil and Mohamed Touré were born in refugee camps. She also referenced Milos Degenek, saying his family fled Croatia before moving to Australia.

In Dale’s telling, the Socceroos’ win is what happens when Australia embraces its multicultural reality. “The Socceroos’ victory is what happens when we embrace. celebrate and foster a truly multicultural vision of Australia. ” she wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald. But she argued the wider environment is moving in the wrong direction—warning that hostility toward refugees like Irankunda and his family is “growing fast” and that “the pathway to safety that brought them to Australia is rapidly closing.”.

The ultimatum came directly after that framing. “Those who celebrate the Socceroos’ win while opposing the arrival of refugees and immigrants into Australia now have two options,” Dale wrote.

The first option, she said, is silence: “because there really is no counterargument to the proof that refugees and migrants are real Australians and do make noteworthy contributions to our country.”

The second option is more complicated—and, in Dale’s view, dishonest. She wrote that supporters could argue people like Irankunda came “the right way. ” but she called that framing “false and toxic.” Dale said there is no single fixed path to safety in Australia. describing fleeing for survival and protecting children as realities that do not fit into neat approval checklists.

“It’s legal to seek asylum. It’s legal to seek asylum in Australia – but it’s bloody hard.” Dale added that the “untold story” behind Irankunda’s goal is the heroism his parents showed fleeing Burundi and surviving a refugee camp in Tanzania.

Dale also tied her argument to One Nation policy. saying the party’s position is to withdraw Australia from the 1951 Refugee Convention. She argued that such a move would mean Irankunda. Touré. Mabil and Degenek “would probably never have made it to Australia. ” let alone become the sporting greats being celebrated.

Awer Mabil’s own background was part of that push, with Dale writing that if One Nation’s immigration policies were implemented, he and some of his teammates “would probably never have made it to Australia.”

Her column landed in the middle of a separate wave of political messaging aimed at One Nation voters who wanted to follow the World Cup team. Former ALP member of parliament John Kennedy and ex-Greens candidate Hannah Thomas both posted messages warning that backing One Nation disqualifies supporters from cheering the Socceroos.

Thomas wrote: “One Nation would deport half the Socceroos and defund SBS [the World Cup host broadcaster] so we couldn’t even watch them.” She added: “Gentle reminder that if you enjoyed that win today, you shouldn’t be on team Pauline.”

The criticism intensified after the Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party Facebook account posted a message congratulating the Socceroos on the victory over Turkey.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce then pushed back hard. He told Sky News: “I would suggest that every person in Australia at some stage has immigrant blood in them.” Joyce continued: “Unless you’re Aboriginal, and most Aboriginal people have got genetics from other places as well.”

He insisted the issue wasn’t heritage. “It’s not about being an immigrant. it’s about being a person who’s going to fit into Australia and work within the guardrails of our expectations.” Joyce said those guardrails protect the liberty and freedoms of other people. warning that if someone follows a philosophy shaped by where they came from without being tempered by the fact they are now in Australia. “then it would be best if you had never left that place.”.

For Dale. though. the guardrails are precisely what get tested when Australia cheers for players whose lives began under refugee protection. In her view. the Socceroos’ moment makes the contradiction unavoidable—either admit refugees and migrants are part of the story you’re celebrating. or stay silent when the crowd moves on.

Socceroos Sarah Dale Refugee Advice and Casework Service One Nation Pauline Hanson Barnaby Joyce Nestory Irankunda Awer Mabil Mohamed Touré Milos Degenek Turkey 1951 Refugee Convention World Cup asylum