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For someone so good at dishing it out, Pauline Hanson continues to demonstrate a remarkably thin skin when the blowtorch is pointed back in her direction.
For someone so good at dishing it out, Pauline Hanson continues to demonstrate a remarkably thin skin when the blowtorch is pointed back in her direction.
For months now, the One Nation leader has bristled over the heightened scrutiny on her party as it surges to the point where it risks upsetting the established major party system at a state and federal level. Her disdain for transparency and accountability has even seen some media outlets banned from press conferences. It is noteworthy that Hanson enacted this policy before Donald Trump banned CNN and others from the White House.
Even in the brave new world of Pauline Hanson, it’s quite a feat to out-Trump Trump. Good public interest journalism has this year uncovered serious deficiencies with the way in which Hanson’s party operates at an organisational level. One Nation is littered with aggrieved former candidates and bitter officials who feel burned by their encounter with Hanson and her allies.
AdvertisementMichael McGowan and Max Maddison report , One Nation received nearly $50,000 from one of Australia’s biggest labour-hire firms after the party performed an eleventh-hour reversal and supported legislation that gutted several legal challenges in which the company, WorkPac, was potentially exposed to $100 million in liabilities. The decision to support the Morrison government’s controversial 2021 industrial relations bill came after One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts had spent months criticising the legislation, calling it a “cruel mess” that would harm casual workers.
The previously unreported contribution from WorkPac raises questions about the motivations behind One Nation’s decision to reverse its position. As McGowan and Maddison note, a One Nation spokesman did not engage with a series of questions about WorkPac’s contributions, including whether they were connected to the party’s vote and if any meetings were held with the company before the matter came up in the Senate.
The spokesperson said all donations are properly disclosed in accordance with the law.does not suggest Hanson or any other MP or official has been involved in wrongdoing surrounding the donation. But accountability should be a hallmark of all political parties – particularly those even close to being in a position to form government.
The most recent Resolve Political Monitor found Labor and One Nation command about 29 per cent and 25 per cent of the vote in NSW respectively, while the Coalition moved up one point to 24 per cent. Hanson repeatedly insists One Nation is ready to move from a party of grievance to a party of government but a seemingly never-ending string of question marks over its finances, organisational readiness and candidate selection process make that claim difficult to swallow.
One Nation must start answering legitimate questions about how it does business. If they don’t, voters would understandably wonder how a party which can’t run itself can possibly run a country.
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