Albury priest warns against deepening division after One Nation win
The political energy behind One Nation’s strong performance in the Farrer by-election must be carefully understood and the political divide between regional communities across the country must not be allowed to deepen, Albury’s senior Anglican priest has warned.
Fr Peter MacLeod-Miller, rector of St Matthew’s in Albury, said political leaders and commentators had a responsibility to interpret the result “carefully” and condemned efforts by his opponents to dehumanise Pauline Hanson. But he warned that the sentiment driving the One Nation vote needed to be “directed constructively” rather than “in a more divisive direction”.
The cleric’s comments follow Pauline Hanson’s party’s historic victory in the southern NSW border constituency on Saturday, which won its first lower house seat with almost 40 per cent of the primary in an area that has long been a Coalition stronghold.
The seat, which includes Albury, Griffith and Deniliquin, was held for decades by former Liberal leader Sussan Ley, whom MacLeod-Miller described as a “great friend” and “a true Liberal” in the tradition of party founder Robert Menzies.
MacLeod-Miller, who attended One Nation’s victory party, said she understood the community’s “reservations” about the outcome and the intensity of the national debate surrounding Hanson’s return, but cautioned against what she described as “arrogant” behavior towards him in some parts of the public response.
“I think people are too quick to portray Pauline Hanson as a two-dimensional figure,” he said. “People are happy to make him into a less-than-human figure.”
He described the atmosphere as extremely exciting, noting that Hanson’s presence in the area during the campaign and on election night reflected the strong emotional commitment among supporters.
“When he walked onstage yesterday, I could see a human side of him shining through. I think there’s a sense of vindication and relief. He was going on Billy Graham’s crusade.”
MacLeod-Miller, who has long challenged the Anglican church’s conservative views on issues such as sexuality and equality, said the broader question for the major parties now was how to respond to concerns driving the vote in regional areas, including immigration, housing and national identity issues.
“We are not an economy, we are a society,” he said. “Immigration policy, housing policy, education policy—all of these need to be aligned with a sense of values and the kind of society we are trying to be.”
He said Australians tended to understand and respect the values of other countries when traveling abroad but warned against losing what he described as a distinct national character.
“In our rush to be inclusive, I think we have lost some of Australia’s distinctive spirit – the importance of fair dealing, egalitarianism and hard work.”
He also warned that the outcome in Farrer should not be reduced to caricature or dismissed as purely negative sentiment.
“I have heard critics say that One Nation is just protest or negativity,” he said. “But I think what people are expressing is a desire for horizons, not dead ends.”
Hanson said people were “in denial” about his popularity.
“All they can do is bark and say I’m a racist,” he told Sky News. “Most of the people around me are actually immigrants and people from different cultural backgrounds… We ignore that because they’re so proud to be Australian.”
Buoyed by last night’s success, Hanson signaled he would take politics more seriously.
“Now my work really begins because I am coming after you with your policies,” he said.
“You can’t drill in this country. You can’t mine for gas. You can’t do anything. I’ll announce my gas policy next week. And I’ve consulted with all the gas companies… The next thing I’m going after is the agricultural industry. I want the farmers there to tell me what they want, what changes need to happen, and I’ll bring this country together.”
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Tim Wilson did not rule out the possibility of the Liberals and Nationals joining a coalition with Hanson and his One Nation party in the future.
“My aim is to ensure that the Liberal Party is in a position to govern as strongly as possible,” Wilson told the ABC. “It all depends on what the Australians come up with.”
One Nation’s newly elected Farrer member, David Farley, used a Mother’s Day service at MacLeod-Miller’s church to thank voters for taking what he described as a “risk” in electing him to the federal parliament.
He read Dorothea Mackellar’s poem while speaking at his first public forum since winning the by-election my country to the congregation before thanking Hanson and the voters.
Asked what he would say to voters in capital cities who were struggling to understand the result, he replied: “Come and visit us. Or when you lift that fork and put it in your mouth, think of us.”
Rob Harris is a national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He is a former European correspondent.Connect via email.
