How the media legitimise Barnaby and Pauline’s PHONies

Why do the establishment media continue to legitimize politicians like One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce? Managing editor Michelle Pini analyzes the media’s obsession with PHONies.

It’s hard to believe there was a time when Barnaby Joyce was proudly strutting through the streets on the day he represented the country as Australia’s Acting Prime Minister and was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister. shorts and Akubra.

It was in those heady days that Barnaby, then married for 24 years, a father of four and a devoted Catholic, hid his secret affair with an employee who was also pregnant with his child, triggering the infamous “nonsense ban” in his honour.

It was difficult then to avoid seeing him and hearing his angry words; shout at the sky he was “I’m tired of the government being in my life.”Even though he was a member of the government in question at that time. Was it largely inconsistent at the time? Yes. Was it more often than not that he didn’t come to Parliament? looks disheveled and worse for wear? Certainly. But he was also the leader of the National Party and the person who took over when the Prime Minister was otherwise dismissed. No matter how crazy his frequent ramblings were, it made sense for the media to give him air time.

Merry christmas pic.twitter.com/QGYPv51pTN

— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) December 24, 2019

Fast forward a few years, a few intimate moments with a planter box followed by a few hundred obscenities, plus a trip to parliament allegedly drunk and falling asleep more regularly, other career highlights, and Barnaby – finally relegated to the backbencher by the party he had been affiliated with for 30 years – three of which were leaders – has now defected.

These days, Joyce can often be seen and heard ranting about the same things and in the same mainstream “media” outlets, except now that the less respected (hard to believe, we know) Pauline Hanson is spewing her “playful larrikin” ways from the warm embrace of One Nation (PHON). Only its lead sponsor remained unchanged; billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Ranging from climate denial, support for Trump, to disinformation and general stupidity on topics as diverse as climate denial, support for drilling and mining every natural resource, these “playful larrikin” methods are interspersed with regular doses of bigotry, racism, misogyny and the entire Far Right hatred that Pauline Hanson has built the “reputation” of One Nation on.

There’s no doubt that Barnaby suits PHONies, who repeatedly share their unqualified opinions without regard for the feelings of others, the veracity of their claims, or the existence of any facts. But what may be harder to understand is why the media, including the public broadcaster, continue to glorify him, his even more incomprehensible leader Pauline Hanson, and PHON’s collection of nonsense… let’s call them “larrikins”.

This week Barnaby noted: ““Nothing can be gained from condemning Trump”. He also talked about fossil fuel policy, why we should keep living daylights out of everything, and why we shouldn’t have any climate policy. Oh, and why does a violent rapist deserve a “second chance” – in an important role, working for parliamentarians and paid for by taxpayers.

Deep words from a man known on YouTube for screaming loudly at the sky, publicly swearing at his phone while lying on the ground, and with a history of disturbing sexual harassment allegations against him IA. researched).

Meanwhile, her boss, Pauline, frequently appears on air to share her thoughts on Trump and how much she loves Trump. “Absolutely everything about Donald Trump” and thinks “All of their policies are amazing.”. Pauline too in the name for Australia “help eliminate evil” By participating in US-Israeli military action against Iran.

Pauline also this week expressed support for former employees and convicted rapist Sean Black, accusing other parties of trying to force One Nation to oust him because of the “harassment” PHONies were subjected to.

Now, with an obscene war and ongoing genocide in the Middle East, an oil crisis, and a looming global recession, this is what the media wants to focus on: One Nation.

David Speers a while ago interviewed Criticizing the preference agreement between the Coalition and One Nation, Prime Minister Albanese said that it legitimized One Nation’s far-right grievances that were presented without a solution: “It’s a stalemate that leads the country nowhere.”

But Speers kept interrupting, demanding answers to stupid questions like:

• But do you need to engage? [One Nation] As a party?
• When was the last time you met Pauline Hanson?”
• So is there a point at which you would see One Nation as the real opposition?

The only self-respecting answers to these questions, then and now, are of course: NO, NO And Never — WTF?!

Yet Albanese responded calmly, explaining that Pauline Hanson rarely commutes, not even getting a job. “Usually not in Parliament”. The Prime Minister drew the line by pointing out that the media also legitimized PHON’s stupidity, but of course they did and they continue to do so. He didn’t bother to point out that One Nation couldn’t be elected and that Barnaby and Pauline were buffoons at best.

Like IA. founder Dave Donovan recently wrote:

Australians, for the most part, are not stupid. Why would they risk stuttering, stumbling, always incomprehensibly incompetent Pauline Hanson in a party of clowns, misfits, and criminals, completely devoid of any coherent policy or governing authority, and possessing valuable tools of power? …

… Australians – decent Australians, the majority – will never allow this ridiculous breed party, resentment and anger to gain more than a handful of lower house seats, I.A. claims. not enough I.A. he even suggests giving them a test run on the opposition benches of any Australian Parliament in our great brown land.

All this brings us back to the question of why the mostly billionaire-owned mainstream media, led by Murdoch and further supported by the national broadcaster, and of course the billionaire-controlled algorithms of social media platforms, continue to support these scammers?

For the same reasons Trump was catapulted to the presidency twice. Because PHONies like Trump, Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson are not “larrikins” either. Their toxic insults give people license to be disgusting, misogynist, racist, bigoted, and publicly express all the other dark parts of the human psyche that should not see the light of day.

In the past, such behavior would not have been appropriate for a politician. Politicians were once respected not as fools but as village elders.

Disturbingly, allowing people to be hateful and cruel and still achieve respectability provides the media and its billionaire backers with the opportunity to sow doubt, prey on ignorance, legitimize and foment divisions, and ultimately label everyone else as “the elite” while policies based on “othering” and greed continue to line the pockets of the real elite.

The goals are pretty simple: low regulation policies that allow for continued plunder of the environment and workers, more wars requiring more weapons, and ultimately more money for the already obscenely rich.

This editorial was first published as part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter. Subscribe to IA to access all of our work for as little as $1.15 a week and help power our journalism in 2026.

Follow managing editor Michelle Pini at Bluesky @michellepini.bsky.social and Independent Australia on Bluesky @independaus.bsky.socialX/Twitter@independentaus and Facebook HERE.

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