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You’ve almost got to admire the cluelessness of the establishment political elite. Former Labor Queensland premier Peter Beattie is wringing his hands and whining that One Nation is a “political danger to all the major parties”. Well… yes. That’s kind of the point.
Well might Beattie clutch his pearls, though: One Nation’s existential to the two-headed beast of the uniparty gets sharper and closer every day. Only days ago, the uniparty establishment woke to their worst nightmare: One Nation’s polling numbers had drawn ahead of even the government. If the momentum holds, the 2028 election will be a bloodbath for the elite who’ve governed “unsullied by elections” (to use poet Les Murray’s inimitable phrase) for decades.
In new developments, the coalition finally seem to be admitting defeat and holding out a preferences olive branch to One Nation, and, until they get to vote for real, Australians are voting with their wallets. A fundraiser to “fire the liar” Anthony Albanese racked up nearly two million in donations from ordinary Aussies on just its first day. And Pauline Hanson just keeps getting the rock-star treatment wherever she goes.
One Nation has launched a new funding drive calling on Australians to “fire the liar” Anthony Albanese, in response to Labor’s appeal to donors to chip in $27 to fund its fight against Pauline Hanson […]
“Albo thinks $27 buys him the right to silence us. We think Australians deserve a real choice. Donate to help One Nation’s quest to FIRE THE LIAR,” the party’s donation page reads.
“Billboards, TV, radio, that’s how we reach Australians that Albanese ignores. Help our candidates and donate before 30 June 2026.”
As part of the campaign One Nation has accused the prime minister of lying about a series of issues including immigration, the ISIS brides, the budget’s tax reforms and “falling off a stage”.
Those are not ‘accusations’: they’re demonstrable facts.
And a great many Australians know it. Within 24 hours the “Fire the Liar” drive had smashed past $1.6 million and kept climbing toward two million. Ordinary Australians, sick of being lied to on immigration, ISIS brides, budget rorts and the great stage-fall cover-up, are putting their money where their mouths are. Meanwhile Albanese lectures about “bringing people together” while his own side runs negative ads. The hypocrisy is almost impressive.
Even some Liberals are finally reading the room.
Angus Taylor’s close confidant and numbers man, Tony Pasin, has urged the Liberal Party to sit down with Pauline Hanson to identify the seats in which Liberal and One Nation candidates should run so they’re not competing against each other, in an attempt to oust Labor without cannibalising the coalition […]
“We should work hand-in-glove to defeat Labor. We should work together to identify which seats are more appropriately targeted by a One Nation candidate or a Liberal candidate,” Mr Pasin, who is the opposition scrutiny of government waste and accountability spokesman, told the Australian.
This is what’s known as ‘bowing to the inevitable’. One Nation, whether the coalition strategists want to admit it or not, are going to capture a significant part of the voters who’ve deserted the Liberals and Nationals. So the logic is brutal and obvious: split the conservative vote and Labor cruises. Work together on outer-suburban Labor seats that One Nation can actually win and the uniparty loses its grip.
Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson is continuing to get the rock-star treatment everywhere she goes.
Hundreds of people crammed into the function room at Midland’s Crooked Spire cafe in Midland, in Perth’s east, to hear from the One Nation leader and chase her for a selfie.
The mood inside the venue was more akin to what you would find at an election night victory party, and a world away from what one would typically expect at a political party function on a chilly Wednesday night years away from the next election campaign.
Particularly striking was the demographic mix: inside was a vast array of ages, ethnicities, genders and professions. This wasn’t the usual blend of idealistic student volunteers and grey-haired retirees with nothing better to do that generally constitute the crowd at a political event.
The Perth event showed why the panic is real. The crowd was young, old, tradies, nurses, former Liberal staffers and even a sacked cop who once ran for the Liberals. They roared when Hanson pledged to disband the Department of Climate Change and target Labor ministers who have ballsed up the economy. This isn’t the usual rent-a-crowd of grey heads and uni students. It’s the people the uniparty forgot.
Hanson’s team is already compiling a most-wanted list of Labor frontbenchers and eyeing lower-house seats. The party claims 1,500 expressions of interest for candidates, with Hanson herself weighing a run in Wright, Capricornia or Blair. The message is clear: One Nation isn’t content with protest votes any more. It wants scalps.
The establishment’s fear is not irrational, even if it is stunningly ignorant. One Nation is doing what the majors long ago stopped doing: listening to the people. Beattie can whine all he likes. The danger to the majors is precisely the point. Australians have had enough of being governed by people who treat elections as minor inconveniences between periods of elite rule.
