By Michelle Grattan
Pauline Hanson’s first-ever – and perhaps only-ever – appearance at the National Press Club was always destined to be one of those political “moments”.
As theatre, the 90-minute performance (including the question-and-answer session) didn’t disappoint, although it will have shocked, indeed appalled, many. Some would be left scratching their heads about how Australian politics has come to this, with Hanson scaling the political heights, at least in the polls and (on recent tests) in votes. But we only have to look abroad and remember we follow the trends.
Here was Hanson off the leash, at least for the most part.
If you had to sum up Wednesday’s outing in one word, it would be defiant. Her resentment at being, over the years, written off, derided, often treated discourteously by the media and other politicians was on full display.
“Every attempt has been made for years to silence me. In fact, there are always some people, usually a lot of people, who get offended by what I say or do, even offended by my very existence.”
Now here she was, in the media den, and she would play it her way, on her terms.
Her anger, especially at journalists and some of their organisations, erupted in a very personal attack on a Guardian “trashy journalist” who’d written investigative pieces about One Nation and asked about her daughter Lee Hanson; in her pledge she’d scrap SBS and mostly defund the ABC and make it a subscription service; in her declared selective bans on media organisations; even in a joke about the Nine Network, whose reporter was rather impertinent to her in Perth recently.
The media, for their part, were careful. It didn’t protect them from Hanson’s jibes, but they knew they were under the spotlight too.
National Press Club officialdom was beside itself when a giant anti-Hanson screen rolled down at the back of the stage. No one could recall such a thing happening before. The incident could only help Hanson, but she sounded shaky for a couple of minutes as she pressed on with her speech.
The Press Club later issued a statement:
“We have referred the relevant footage and other evidence to the AFP for further investigation.”
The organisation “GetUp!” is claiming credit for the stunt.
It appears that two persons entered the club building yesterday afternoon without permission and installed a separate drop-down screen in front of our media wall/ light box. It is evident that a further person present during the Address activated a remote device to trigger the unfurling of the coiled banner.
Hanson doesn’t deliver a set piece speech well; her address ran greatly overtime and jumped around, appearing cobbled together. Significantly, she missed the opportunity to announce some new policy.
The address reiterated a number of her well-known positions, including denouncing radical Islam: “I will not hesitate to call it out for being incompatible with Australian values and our way of life.”
She rejected multiculturalism, saying “We are a multiracial society, but we must be monocultural. Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.”
She said she’d abolish a swathe of government agencies and even departments.
The head of the Human Rights Commission and the Sex Discrimination Commissioner would be sacked, if she had her way.
There was a massive attack on the “transgender insurgency”. “The transgender ideology has penetrated almost every regulatory authority.”
Hanson doesn’t like to back down on her claims, even when she is short of facts. When she was pressed to provide evidence for her recent statement that the late Tim Fischer had called her a witch who should be burned at the stake she simply said “It was definitely written in the newspaper”, even though not even Fischer’s biographer Peter Rees could find it.
One Nation lacks a lot of policy but Hanson won’t be rushed. On tax, she wants to talk to experts and others before deciding on her policy. On child care, which is “completely out of control”, she wants “a complete investigation into where the money is going”. She was careful not to take the bait, when given the opportunity to attack the Reserve Bank.
What would the disaffected voters flocking to Hanson make of her performance?
They’ll mostly only get snippets, perhaps those curated through her slick, well-produced social media. And they seem to have made up their minds about her anyway. These supporters are likely to empathise with these sentiments from her:
“Many people feel that they can’t indulge that essential Australian characteristic of speaking out and speaking up, because the risk of speaking out is simply too great. They feel demonised and condescended, and they’re mad as hell about it.”
It’s as good an explanation as any for the earthquake that is changing the political landscape in Australia and other countries.
Pauline Hanson, a politcal insider by any measure these days, drums up support by convincing many alienated Australians they are “outsiders” and that, at least at heart, she’s really one too.
Michelle Grattan is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra. This article was first published by The Conversation.
