Labor Senator Sam Dastyari has hit back strongly at a far-right group who harassed him in a Melbourne pub, denouncing them as the “sickening face of white nationalists in this country”.

“Our politics is heading into a very, very ugly place,” he told Channel Nine.

“It makes me feel small, makes me feel horrible, it makes you feel kind of terrible and that’s what they are designed to do.”

The New South Wales politician, who is of Iranian origin, was called a “monkey”, a “terrorist”  and told to go home to Iran by Patriot Blue members as he ordered drinks.

He is considering a legal response to the incident, which may have infringed race discrimination laws.

While most of his parliamentary colleagues came to the Senator’s support yesterday, long-time adversary Pauline Hanson labeled him a “smart arse”.

Senator Dastyari said people like Senator Hanson had empowered white nationalists and the radical right to take extreme positions. But the One Nation leader dismissed his comments.

“What a joke. He’s nothing but a pipsqueak,” she told reporters on the campaign trail in Queensland.

“He’s played up this whole thing. I’ve got absolutely no time for him whatsoever.”

Senator Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby also told AAP: “Sam Dastyari gets heckled because he’s a wanker … and not because he’s a Muslim.”

Patriot Blue member Neil Erikson, who filmed the exchange and posted the footage on Facebook, defended his actions.

“Sam’s a strong bloke, he’s got a thick skin, he’s been in politics for a long time,” Mr Erikson told ABC radio on Thursday.

“He called us rednecks, which is a racist term in fact, so look, he gives as good as he gets.

“I think he’s playing the victim a little bit.”

As well as hurling racial taunts, the Patriot Blue members also accused the senator of accepting money from China, and asked if his alcoholic drink was “halal certified”.

One of the men was wearing a Toll shirt. The company said he was a former employee and that his actions did not reflect Toll’s values.

“Toll can confirm that the individual wearing the Toll polo shirt is not employed by Toll, and has not worked for us for several months,” a spokeswoman told The New Daily.

“The actions of these individuals in no way reflect the beliefs and values of Toll. No member of the community should have to endure the behaviour displayed overnight and we do not tolerate such behaviour at our company.

“At Toll, we celebrate our diverse community and we expect all of our people to behave in a manner that is consistent with our values at all times.”

Mr Erikson’s video of the exchange showed Senator Dastyari calmly telling the men to go away.

“You are racist rednecks. You follow me everywhere I go,” Senator Dastyari said at the time.

“Honestly, I think you guys are a bunch of racists and I don’t really have time for you.

“I’m not going to bother with you guys. You are just embarrassing yourselves.”

After the men repeatedly taunted “What race is Islam?”, fellow Labor MP Tim Watts approached the cameraman and retorted with: “What race is dickhead?”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said there was no place for racial vilification in Australia.

“That is because our society is built on a foundation of mutual respect. It should have zero tolerance for racist abuse like this,” Mr Turnbull told Channel Seven.

Labor leader Bill Shorten also said he was disgusted by the “ugly” incident.

“What is this country coming to when you cannot go out for a meal without being abused by racist idiots.”

Mr Erikson said he was merely exercising his freedom of speech.

“If he wants to go for Toll and try and hurt me financially he can go for it,” he said. “I believe that everyone has a right to freedom of speech.”

Mr Erikson was convicted in 2014 after pleading guilty for stalking a Melbourne rabbi.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community correction order, involving 150 hours of unpaid work.

He’s appealing a 2017 conviction for beheading a dummy outside a council office in protest at a proposal to build a mosque in Bendigo.