CAMERON MILNER: Simple way for Labor to stop a surging One Nation

The Secret Harbour by-election result shows there’s no safe harbour for Labor and they must confront how much Anthony Albanese is hurting the brand.

There will be all the trite official excuses from Labor in coming days: by-elections always go against the incumbents, there was a grand conspiracy of “dangerous” right wing parties to unseat noble Labor.

The truth is the candidate was a dud and the campaign was dopey.

In a rare moment of self awareness, Albanese stayed away from the campaign, but his damaging presence was felt regardless.

Albanese is the elephant in the room driving voters from Labor to One Nation and is a headache for the party everywhere.

One Nation’s surging support isn’t, as Albanese hopes, just “a recent spike”, but rather a permanent reaction by voters to the policy-lazy Albanese Government and to the Prime Minister’s lies specifically.

For all the wishful thinking of the establishment parties, One Nation and its leader Pauline Hanson benefit from the two least inspiring Federal party leaders.

Liberal Angus Taylor’s “talking points specialist” routine doesn’t cut it with voters and Albanese is the longest serving, least popular PM now on record.

The political establishment love to claim One Nation can’t be a party of government — without understanding that voters simply don’t care.

The moral superiority of Albanese warning about the “dangers” presented by One Nation is deeply infuriating for voters who don’t belief the current establishment choices are governing very well anyway.

The by-election in WA will soon be followed by the Victorian general election at the end of November.

Victorian Labor is genuinely fearful — not of the Liberals, but rather the prospect of losing up to 10 seats in the west and outer south east to One Nation.

Really good quality Labor candidates in seats including Melton, Sydnenham and Pakenham are being confronted by open hostility and by voters no longer shy to say they are voting One Nation.

Inner-city chai latte-sippers will tut-tut about rednecks and racists, but the reality is One Nation voters are a much greater cohort than a xenophobic rump.

Many migrants are voting One Nation. Large church communities are also voting One Nation. Working class former Labor voters have already walked.

And though there are easy comparisons to Trump’s MAGA movement or Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, One Nation’s rise is also authentically Australian.

Australians have awoken. They’ve called BS on Albo. Hanson says what voters are thinking.

Voters are fed up with being ignored and shocked by seeing the failure of leadership from Albanese on issues from the Bondi massacre to the treatment of Ben Roberts Smith.

Voters saw that even after the Bondi massacre, Albanese couldn’t act against radical Islam or acknowledge the massive rise in anti-Semitism on his watch.

Bondi crystallised in voters’ minds their discontent over 3000 Gazans on tourist visas, returning ISIS brides getting the red carpet treatment, hate preachers at local mosques, mobs at the Opera House and a Christian bishop allegedly stabbed and blinded by a homegrown jihadi in Western Sydney.

Add to this the palpable outrage of voters seeing Ben Roberts-Smith, a living war hero, being disowned by the political establishment of Canberra Labor and Canberra Liberals.

He deserves his day in court, and it’s little wonder Australians would rather a BRS on our frontline defending our nation’s interests than a weak Albo or a waffling Taylor.

One Nation has become the answer for voters seeking justice for Bondi and for BRS. And it shows the depth of voters’ distrust of Anthony Albanese.

One Nation is tapping into a desire for authenticity and consistency.

Hanson has been in politics for as long as Albanese and the contrast couldn’t be starker: Hanson speaks with a sense of conviction, Albanese couldn’t be less convincing.

One Nation’s slogan “Fire the Liar” was a moment of brilliance from party director James Ashby that tapped a deep vein of political sentiment towards Albanese that raised millions.

Voters simply can’t trust what Albanese says any longer and it’s this distrust that is impacting the Labor brand, from Secret Harbour to the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is giving it his all and genuinely fighting to get Labor back in front, but he’s being asked to do this with the weight of Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Albanese on his shoulders.

Albanese will give speech after speech railing against the “threat of One Nation” without recognising his own massive contribution to a falling Labor vote. Albanese could stop the rise of One Nation simply by being a much better PM.

That time though may have already passed as his lies and weakness have so trashed his reputation amongst voters.

Labor glibly thinks One Nation is their meal ticket to another term in office with a divided right and the Liberals in disarray, but the by-election shows Labor is far from safe.

Labor’s secret is out, Albanese is deeply disliked and distrusted. His standing is now impacting Labor from West to East, at both the State and the Federal level, making every Labor seat a lot less safe.

Cameron Milner is a former Queensland Labor State secretary