Editorial: Budget flub a boon for One Nation
Election losses and controversy (including a stint in jail) meant the flame-haired firebrand was labelled a joke by most Australians. 10 years on, Pauline Hanson cannot be considered a laughing matter.
It was 30 years ago that disendorsed Liberal candidate-turned independent Pauline Hanson was elected to the Senate.
Subsequent election losses and controversy (including a stint in jail) meant the flame haired, fringe dwelling firebrand was considered a joke by most “thinking” Australians — a loopy wannabe lacking the smarts to be a real politician.
But her victory at the 2016 election saw the rebirth of a woman who is nothing if not dogged.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Because 10 years on, Hanson cannot be considered a laughing matter.
A recent poll revealed One Nation is the most popular political party in the country, with the Labor Party’s own-goal Budget and what’s seen by many as its red-carpet treatment of ISIS brides giving Hanson plenty to talk about.
Even those pre-Budget sceptics who were prepared to laugh off the former ‘fish and chip shop lady’ as she scooped up Farrer are being forced to pay attention.
Love her or loathe her or her politics, it’s impossible to deny that something is happening in the electorate.
Polling puts One Nation at the top of the primary vote table with 31 per cent, smashing Labor’s lead and cementing its place as a legitimate political force.
Hanson’s rating as preferred Prime Minister was just six percentage points shy of the actual Prime Minister, dwarfing the Coalition.
As cost-of-living increases, right wing politicians around the world are preaching to a disenfranchised band of voters who say they are fed up with being condescended to. Sick of being ignored. Tired of feeling hopeless.
Mock them at your peril.
Although at times lacking in substance, Hanson’s rhetoric and straightforward takes are hitting a nerve. Everyday Australians reckon they have the ear of Hanson and they bristle at criticism of a woman they consider authentically ‘for’ them.
Hanson herself has called out the “arrogance” of those who seek to condemn or belittle her. Just as Hillary Clinton would find when she said Donald Trump supporters belonged in “a basket of deplorables”, Hanson has warned her detractors that they could be their own undoing.
“This why they will lose,” she said.
Farrer: tick.
Then the Budget flub that has gifted her a bunch of Labor malcontents.
Not even Health Minister Mark Butler was surprised they’d taken a hit in the polls, saying it was a “complex” budget the government needed to “explain” to the Australian population.
But to suggest those turning their back on the ALP for One Nation are just people who don’t understand the budget would be foolish and naive.
Hanson has declared she could be Prime Minister, even mooting a switch to the lower house.
She insists that at 71, she’s not too old to covet the role.
While Hanson inhabiting the Lodge seems fantastical, one can’t afford to ignore her ambition.“I can still run down the halls of parliament in my heels when I have to get to the chamber. So don’t underestimate me,” she said.
Indeed.
