EDITORIAL: Once shunned, Pauline Hanson shows why One Nation has surged

When historians write about the rapid rise of One Nation one element of their analysis will be clear.

It will show how Pauline Hanson was for years shunned, disparaged and patronised.

How the political culture in Australia became so stifling that to express a view publicly that ran counter to the narrative of the so-called Progressives was to run the risk of being dealt with in the same way.

As the Progressives turned into modern-day oppressors of free speech, ordinary Australians mostly kept their views to themselves on matters like immigration, multiculturalism and gender ideology, lest they too be subject to a Left-wing pile on.

Occasionally these quiet Australians expressed themselves through the safety of the ballot box such as by opposing the division represented by The Voice.

But their concern at the direction of the country grew.

The violence and hate on the streets at weekly pro-Palestine protests, the Bondi massacre and the outright trickery of the broken promises Budget were the final straws.

As One Nation surged in the polls even the National Press Club, the very heart of the Canberra media bubble, decided it could no longer ignore Senator Hanson, and she was offered a speaking slot.

Leading into the event on Wednesday the unspoken questions hung in the air.

How would she go? Could she deliver a major speech? Would she cover some policy? Would the press gallery’s questions bring her apart?

As it turned out the whole day did nothing but play into her hands.

Outside the Press Club the usual ragtag band of protesters gathered to deliver the usual — and really, so cliched and outdated even by undergraduate standards — messages: “Migrants are welcome, racists are not”, and chants such as “we will fight, we will win, put the racists in the bins”.

During her speech a protest poster was somehow unfurled beside Senator Hanson which claimed she opposed a pay rise for workers and took a $100,000 pay rise for herself. Advocacy group GetUp later claimed responsibility for the stunt, which had merely served to discredit the Press Club.

But Senator Hanson just turned, smiled slightly and continued her speech — at the time about the plight of low income Australians — before the poster was torn down by Press Club staff.

It was an impressive display of composure.

Senator Hanson hit the hot button One Nation topics. The “divisive” Welcome to Country; immigration; “flawed” multiculturalism; radical Islam and hate preachers; transgender ideology; the need to scrap SBS and introduce subscriptions for the ABC in cities; renewable energy “rorts”; the need for nuclear energy; the failed Federal Budget; cutting government spending and debt.

It was feisty. It was unpolished. It was raw. It was real.

The major parties have a challenge on their hands. They need to realise and come to grips with the fact that Pauline Hanson exists because their failings have created her.

Attempting to demonise her will not work this time. It will just work for her.

Politics in this country is at a moment like none before.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore