Support For One Nation
Here is an interesting fact. Support for One Nation is highest in areas where there are relatively few migrants living. Regional areas and outer suburban electorates, where the vast majority of populations are white bread. Why then do they go on about the issue of high levels of immigration in Australia? It is not actual lived experience. Could it be because they watch Sky News Australia and listen to reactionary shock jocks on the radio? Blaming immigrants, refugees and foreigners, more generally, is a right wing populist saw. Combine this with a general underlying racism inherited down through generations and you probably get what is really going on here. Pauline Hanson has been banging on about her white supremacist views for decades and now has Gina Rinehart to bankroll her hate speech infected perspective downunder.
“Location — strongest outside inner metro areas. One Nation’s vote is noticeably stronger in regional/rural and outer-metropolitan electorates. These are the places with smaller shares of university graduates and where Labor’s campaigning resources (and booth presence) are often weaker.
Education — concentrated among non-university voters. The move to One Nation is most pronounced among voters who didn’t complete university — in particular those with only school or TAFE-level qualifications. Put together, age + region + non-university education is the “sweet spot” for the One Nation surge.”
One Nation’s Populist Leanings
Pauline Hanson is a populist and a big fan of President Donald Trump. Hanson’s latest populist shift is to embrace a gas export tax or more accurately for a proposal for the Australian government to nationalise parts of the industry. She has recognised that the push for a gas export tax has become mainstream and wants to electorally cash in on that groundswell. Voters beware, however, you cannot trust a populist. Just look at Trump and all the promises he has flouted since assuming power. Right wing politicians are following the Trump exemplar in his blatant disregard for the truth or facts. Shamelessness is the Trump way and Pauline loves him.
One Nation’s Billionaire Backer
Trump and Hanson have to pay back their billionaire backers and, therefore, it is the oligarchs calling the shots and not the people. Populist politicians campaign upon culture war issues to get their votes at the ballot box. Anti-wokeness plays well to dyed in the wool folk who fear change. This stuff is only window dressing for politicians like Hanson and Trump. The real deals are with their wealthy backers and what they want. Support for One Nation is a protest vote in many instances and these voters would do well to dig a little deeper. Do your research to find out who pays the piper in the end. Millions of Americans regret their votes for Donald Trump, as the US economy descends into the doghouse. Populists rarely deliver what they promise and that is what we are seeing in the US.
“Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has gifted a $1 million plane to One Nation. The party has also received $2 million in donations from Angus and Sarah Aitken, Adam Giles and Ian Plimer.”
Billionaires buying political parties and their favours is nothing new, but it is getting out of hand. These incredibly wealthy individuals are not going to do you any favours. They are in it for their own considerable interests. Get smart and find out who really will serve your interests and that of your community. You might be frustrated but be vigilant about who you turn to in protest at the status quo. Don’t fall for cheap cant and slogans.
Labor In Thrall To Gas Multinationals
“PM Anthony Albanese was never going to stand up to the gas industry downunder. Weak leaders follow the power elite. They are content to see inequity and inequality flourish in this time of zombie neoliberalism. Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned or so the story goes. Governments do little these days but talk and let the markets run the show to the detriment of the working poor. We have a severe housing crisis and it is not getting any better. What is the government doing about it? Talking about it, but talk is cheap. They are not actually getting their hands dirty and getting into the game by building houses themselves. No, they are ineffectually encouraging private interests to do something about the housing crisis. The figures do not stack up in terms of meeting the challenge of new housing stock being built at the required rate.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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