5 days ago
22
Nearly 30 years after she first entered politics with a firebrand maiden speech about Asian immigration, Pauline Hanson remains a committed fringe dweller, with narrow political interests and bad instincts.
Suspended from the Senate on Tuesday, her decision to don a burqa in the chamber a day earlier badly disrupted proceedings and drew near universal condemnation. It is only the fifth time since 1901 that a seven-day suspension has been put in place, and the first time since 1979.
Prompted by the refusal of Labor and the Coalition to entertain her latest push for a bill to ban face coverings in public, the stunt was a replay from 2017, and shows her political playbook is threadbare – even when One Nation’s parliamentary ranks are at a record high and the party’s primary vote is polling at nearly 20%.
Voters don’t want religious or racial division in their national parliament and while banning the burqa might play with the Sky After Dark audience, it is miles from a mainstream concern among punters.
Hanson claims to be the champion of real world voters hit hard by the cost-of-living, but has missed at least 10 days of parliament since the election, including to attend political events at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Instead of interrogating Labor’s policies, she often skips Senate estimates and the other lower profile responsibilities of parliamentarians.
At a time when voters have legitimate concerns about the rate of overseas migration into Australia, Hanson sidelines herself through stunts and an entrenched victim mentality.
“I’ll stand my ground and what I believe in, I will continue to do so,” she said after the suspension came into force. “It will be the people that will judge me.”
Hanson’s plan for capitalising on growing support in the polls appears to include running disaffected Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce on the One Nation ticket.
Joyce has been teasing about a defection for weeks. In October, he confirmed plans not to run again in his seat of New England, opening the path for a return to the Senate alongside Hanson, who says she will contest the 2028 election.
The pair dined together in Hanson’s office at Parliament House on Monday night, eating wagyu steak cooked on a sandwich press, in front of the TV cameras.
“I always find it annoying when everyone makes a mad dash for the offence microphone,” Joyce told Sydney radio 2GB as criticism of Hanson grew on Tuesday.
“They’re supporting the right for someone to wear a burqa, but kicking out someone for wearing a burqa.”
His close ally and fellow anti-net zero diehard Matt Canavan revealed he has counselled Joyce against joining One Nation, suggesting relevance deprivation syndrome has set in for the one-time deputy prime minister.
“It’s only now that he’s trying to jump ship. He doesn’t see a future in the National party for himself, but that seems to me to raise the question: is this move from Barnaby about the Australian people, or is it about himself?”
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, spoke for Labor in the Senate debate, lashing Hanson for “parading prejudice as protest for decades”. The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, called her out for punching down on migrants.
Ahead of the 2028 election, Pauline Hanson would have us believe One Nation is a mainstream force in Australian politics. The fundamental ugliness she unleashed this week with her performance suggests she’ll stay a bit player.
