‘Huge grievance’ pushes One Nation to major status
Australia’s major political parties are facing “a huge amount of grievance” as a leading Liberal figure admits a decade of his party’s flawed policies have fueled the rise of One Nation.
Polling by RedBridge Group and Accent Research shows Pauline Hanson’s One Nation could win up to 59 seats in the lower house if a federal election is held today.
The result will leave Senator Hanson’s anti-immigration party as the official opposition, reducing the coalition to a handful of seats and forcing Labor into a minority government.
But RedBridge analyst Alex Fein said people should reject their “reflexive interpretation” that the poll, supported by others to show rising support for One Nation, was moving towards the far right.
On the contrary, many people’s living standards and public services were deteriorating, while trust in institutions such as government, media and business was collapsing.
Ms Fein said anti-establishment sentiment had left a void that needed to be filled, and votes for Senator Hanson were seen as giving the major political parties a “kick in the ass”.
Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said he believed voters wanted an “economic revolution” but now was not the time to accept that the coalition would have to partner with One Nation.
“It shows that there is a huge amount of grievance in the Australian community and I think we haven’t done a good job of economic policy over the last 10 years,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“That’s my takeaway… we should have done more on taxation, on industrial relations, on supervision, on budget matters, and we’ve been very Labor-like for a long time.
“We are being punished.”
RedBridge’s main prediction was that One Nation would take 53 seats, with the coalition falling to just 12 and Labor a slim majority of 76, based on current polls.
Labor cabinet secretary Andrew Charlton said the government should focus on addressing voters’ concerns and showing it was tackling them.
“One Nation expresses people’s grievances, but it does not offer the solutions that these people need to those grievances,” he said.
“They vote against things that would benefit Australian families and workers every chance they get.”
Alarm is growing among citizens as the coalition faces a strong challenge, especially in regional and rural seats.
But former party leader David Littleproud played down the research.
“It’s a bit bold to do 6,000 polls out of 17 million votes and then make these assumptions,” he told Nine’s Today programme.
“This is less about reality and more about clickbait and feeding our algorithm.”
One Nation’s David Farley took the regional NSW seat of Farrer from the Liberals in a recent by-election, representing his party’s first win in the lower house.
The poll predicts the independent crossbench will be reduced from 10 seats to eight.
Independent senator David Pocock did not rule out joining others to form a political party when asked whether it was time for like-minded representatives to come together.
“We’re in a period of real change politically and there are people looking for candidates to come to Canberra and putting them first, putting them before their interests,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.
Senator Pocock said he was focused on serving ACT voters and delivering solutions.
“Who knows what this will look like in the future?” he said.
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