LATIKA M BOURKE: Politicians keeps falling into Pauline Hanson’s trapdoors as complacency fuels One Nation

“If you can’t govern your dog, you can’t govern the country,” joked the South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.

The party faithful attending last week’s Labor conference loved it, bursting into laughter, applause, cheers and whistles, indulging in their chance to mock, once more, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce over the viral moment when beaming in from his farm for a live television interview, he interrupted his answer to yell at his barking dog to “sit down”.

The Premier’s joke was amusing, but it also unintentionally and ironically reinforced the very serious point that he went on to make about the electoral shift underway — the rise of One Nation that threatens the political orthodoxy that has governed most voters’ lifetimes — that power switches between Labor and the Liberal-dominated Coalition.

Mr Malinauskas warned of two omnipresent and undeniable risks the rise of One Nation presents.

“The first is complacency. Complacency in the idea that a splintered conservative movement automatically renders Labor as electoral favourites? And the second risk, is that in an effort to avoid said complacency, we end up developing an agenda focused on responding to political populism rather than the needs of the nation?”

It is a wise warning. But the political class seems incapable of grasping these truths, having seemingly learnt little from the rise of Donald Trump, whose unorthodox style and entry into politics was initially met with disbelief, amusement and then outrage which only accelerated his capture of the White House.

Mr Malinauskas’ joke about Mr Joyce yelling at his dog during a live interview on the ABC’s flagship current affairs show 7.30 last week fell into this same trap.

To the established political class, Pauline Hanson and her ragtag club of MPs are unpalatable. Senator Hanson is unrefined, speaks with a heavy salt-of-the-earth accent that sounds simple in comparison to the polished tones adopted by most politicians.

Senator Malcolm Roberts is truly a ticking time bomb, having praised Vladimir Putin and Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, dabbled in conspiracy theories relating to chemtrails and spread anti-Semitic tropes.

And then there’s Mr Joyce. The former Nationals leader is a colourful figure, having built his profile making wild political claims such as the cost of the Sunday roast climbing to $100 under a carbon tax back in the days of the Rudd-Gillard governments.

As a cabinet minister, his affair with his former staffer, and now wife Vikki Campion, made the front pages and ended his first marriage, but the scandal did not ultimately cost him politically.

His defection to One Nation late last year was a harbinger of the revolt underway that first began amongst Coalition voters but has now spread to Labor voters, and those who simply feel the system and status quo is not letting them get ahead.

“Pauline and Barnaby” do not need their surnames to be used for people to know who is being referenced, and neither plays by the rules.

And so far, it’s working a treat. Suggesting, even in jest, as Mr Malinauskas did, that the way Mr Joyce addressed his dog was any reflection of his fitness for government is the exact overreach that fuels One Nation’s reach.

When the Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, who was moved sideways after an ignominious stint in the Home Affairs portfolio, rushed to her social media to record a video about “the questions he just wasn’t willing to answer”, the comments on Instagram were mostly in his favour.

If her underlying theme was to make a point about competency, it was hers that they weren’t buying. Social media comments are not scientific samples of public opinion, but the response was so positive that One Nation sensed the market speaking.

The party rushed out “Sit Down Barnaby” dog leashes as party merchandise with Senator Hanson saying on her Facebook page that Mr Joyce’s dog received more media attention than the Prime Minister and Opposition leader last week.

A more serious example is that of monoculture, which became a hot-button issue when it was raised by Senator Hanson during her debut at the National Press Club last month.

Labor leapt on this, capitalising on the opportunity to associate Opposition Leader Angus Taylor with Senator Hanson and demanding to know if he shared the same view, that Australia should not be multicultural but monocultural.

Taylor ummed and ahhed before eventually deciding that he did support a form of multiculturalism. Labor might think they chalked up a victory in wedging the Liberal leader, who is trying to balance keeping his Hanson-curious support base in the tent while trying to woo back urban voters in migrant-heavy seats.

But to what end? Ultimately, every day Labor spends talking about monoculture and hyperventilating over Mr Joyce’s dog is a day they continue validating One Nation’s existence in the political system.

And just like with Donald Trump, the outrage vector not just increases their visibility but reinforces their viability.

Complaining that One Nation does not play by the usual rules also plays into Senator Hanson’s attempts to cast herself and her supporters as victims.

While in London earlier this month, she published a video to address criticism of her travel to Italy to holiday with billionaire Gina Rinehart at the Dolce and Gabbana fashion show in Sicily before meeting far-right extremists in London, where she backed mass deportations of migrants and lamented the ending of the White Australia policy.

She complained that the media had reported her remarks falsely, claiming she wanted to reinstate the White Australia policy, something the media did not do. But truth is a byproduct in a populist’s world. Black can be blue and straw men can be believed over mainstream media.

Indeed, media metrics may also be playing a role in this cycle. Senator Hanson is online dynamite — viewers cannot read or watch enough about her. Some are hate-reading, incredulous that their fellow Australians could even contemplate a woman written off as Canberra’s village idiot more than two decades ago, others are supportive and enjoy seeing their candidate being covered by legacy media.

But the clickability of One Nation’s rise, dumbfounding to some and overdue to others, is leading journalists and editors to write articles they would not ordinarily write about other parties, such as Ms Hanson refusing to hold impromptu press conferences and backroom media tactics — behaviour that all political leaders and their staff exhibit.

Every time One Nation opens a trapdoor, everyone keeps falling in. It is all reminiscent of Donald Trump’s shock ascendancy to office in 2016. And for all the optimism in Cabinet ranks, that the political system and sensibility of the voting public will deny One Nation a MAGA-style upset of Australian politics, the populist party’s rating remains stubbornly competitive, driven by a deep desire for change and an electric shock to the political system.

That is not to say One Nation is immune from Australia’s political faultlines and no-go zones. Senator Hanson’s claims that late-term abortion is “too common”, criticism of paid parental leave and attacks on “lazy workers” are worthy of a Labor scare-campaign warning of a rollback in women’s rights and industrial relations conditions.

There are some early signs that these positions are having a toll. One Nation’s 29 per cent lead in the Resolve poll has dropped three points but this is still just two points shy of Labor, who sits at 28 per cent, a humiliating drop from their 42 per cent position in August 2022, shortly after first being elected to power.

There is a long way to go until the next election and anyone who pretends to know how Australia’s catch-up foray into populism ends is lying.

But right now, Senator Hanson’s opponents would do well to consider how to avoid getting tangled up in her and Mr Joyce’s lead.