THE political earthquake that didn’t happen here in the UK on Thursday happened in Australia early yesterday morning (our time). Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, as I predicted a week or two ago, broke through the political glass ceiling at the Farrer by-election in Victoria.
Why and how? Well, for one significant reason. In response to her rise in the Australian polls, for the first time Ms Hanson and her party were endorsed by the opposition Liberal and Country (National) Party coalition. Blessed with two new leaders – two men prepared to defy the woke establishment and media – they ‘preferenced’ the One Party candidate. It meant One Nation won the seat. Remember Paulin Hanson has been far more persona non grata than Nigel Farage in the eyes of the establishment elite
Far better than anything I can write is David Flint’s account of this historic moment in Spectator Australia, titled ‘The Farrer earthquake: how the commentariat got it wrong‘.
It is so good that I feel sure that Editor Rowan Dean will forgive me for quoting big chunks from it:
‘The political establishment is in a state of shock,’ Flint writes. ‘When Sky News Australia took the unprecedented step of calling the Farrer by-election for One Nation at an extraordinarily early hour, it wasn’t just calling a seat; it was announcing the end of an era. For the first time in Australian history, One Nation has captured a House of Representatives seat at an election, and if the current opinion polls are any indication, it is merely the first of many.’
And that is the point. He goes on:
‘The “commentariat” – that insulated class of pundits and pollsters – has spent years repeating the tired myth that One Nation is a party of complaint but not of policy . . .
‘Farrer has proven that the commentariat’s “no-policies” narrative was a delusion. Australians are not merely “protesting”; they are voting for a platform of common sense, consistently put forward by Pauline Hanson and Senator Malcolm Roberts – one that the major parties have long since abandoned.’
Flint argues that it presages the death of the major party monopoly: ‘The result reflects a deep-seated exhaustion with the status quo. Labor is no longer the party of the worker; it has become the party of the inner-city elite. The Greens, far from being environmentalists, seem content to see our landscape ruined by industrial “renewables” to enrich foreign interests – propping up what Donald Trump rightly called the “world’s biggest fraud”. In contrast, voters have responded to a leader who tells the simple truth.’
Flint goes on to explain how, beyond the personality of Pauline Hanson, ‘lies a suite of consistent, nationalist policies that address the existential crises facing the country’.
He then lists her policy programme. New right-wing party leaders in the UK should pay attention and read this part carefully!
One Nation is ‘committed to ending the enormous cost of Net Zero energy and demonising “fossil fuel”, which is wrecking the country’s agricultural land and giving us what is among the most expensive electricity in the world.’ On energy and water Flint says that ‘While the major parties pursue a financially ruinous and environmentally damaging Net Zero agenda – ripping up agricultural land for useless windmills, solar farms and power transmission lines – One Nation has championed an updated Bradfield Plan. Australia is the driest continent on Earth, yet we allow our water to flow into the sea. We need massive engineering, not massive taxes. Bringing northern water south is far more sensible than delivering power via a fragile, coal-shunning grid.’
One Nation’s Net Zero immigration policy guideline is that arrivals do not exceed departures – which Flint argues is the right target for a nation struggling with a housing and cost-of-living crisis. On defence and mining, he says: ‘With figures like Malcolm Roberts – a man who actually knows what it’s like to work in a coal mine – the party stands as the lone defender of our resources sector.’
Importantly they ‘understand that our national wealth and our national defence (including the proper treatment of our veterans and heroes like Ben Roberts-Smith) are the twin pillars of a sovereign nation’.
He then moves to what he calls the ultimate check – direct democracy on the Swiss model (that we at TCW have long advocated). One Nation remains the sole political advocate for it: ‘By allowing the Australian people to initiate referendums via simple petitions, we can finally control the politicians between elections. It is a constitutional mechanism that would allow us to introduce the laws we need and scrap the ones we don’t. Crucially, it provides a “People’s Veto” over the High Court when activist judges attempt to change the Constitution through the back door – something only the people should be able to do by a considered vote.’
It’s a fantastic piece. Flint ends it with this: ‘The Farrer victory is a breakthrough that proves the Australian people are ready to reclaim their country. The major parties have spent decades treating the electorate like “puppets” to be managed. This result suggests that the people have finally decided to manage themselves. The “safe seat” is dead. The policy of common sense is back.’
You can read the whole article here.
