Pauline Hanson’s multiracial Australia shift puts supporters to the test

Pauline Hanson’s open acceptance of a multiracial Australia could reveal deep tensions in her support base, writes Paul Begley.

IN THE DAYS OF THE Senator Pauline Hanson‘s address National Press Club On June 17, widespread calls were made on social media, News Company tabloids and Sky News Australia for prime minister Anthony Albanese Authorizing high-level security to protect the One Nation leader.

messenger of the sun Managed with a “special” fourth page by Jason Morrison On June 20, with the following headline: ‘Request to Albo: Protect Pauline.’

The premise of Morrison’s story was that Hanson was the unfortunate victim of death threats and that the Prime Minister was in a position to protect him, even though he said decisions about protecting public figures were a matter for Australian Federal Police and Home Affairs officials.

The main source of Morrison’s story was Hanson’s private secretary. James Ashby. Records show Ashby was adept at naming victims and making hasty claims.

For those with a short memory, in April 2012 Ashby called himself a victim of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Peter SlippersIn his Federal Court case, he accused her of unwanted sexual advances and lewd text messages. Records also show that he dropped the allegations after public opinion gathered enough momentum to destroy Peter Slipper and overturn the case. gillard State.

The media reporter at the center of this series of events Daily Telegraph‘s Steve LewisWho is a Federal Court judge? Steven Rares It may have been on Ashby’s mind when evaluating the text exchanges, which were introduced as evidence in the case in December 2012.

Justice Rarities to create Them “Do not read it like this about a man who claims to have been sexually harassed or suffered emotional distress as a result of this type of behavior.”. The judge ruled that Ashby’s allegations were untrue. “Abuse of process” and they were designed just to cause “Serious damage to public opinion, reputation and politics”.

Rares could also add that Lewis was tricked by Ashby in publishing his front-page story. However, it also achieved its possible aim of provoking a News Corp campaign denigrating the Slipper. Ashby decided not to accept the invitation after the Federal Court gave him permission to appeal Rares’ decision against him in May 2013.

And by February 2015, nearly two years after Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s resignation, Slipper had been comprehensively cleared of all matters relating to the initial Murdoch media allegations and subsequent allegations. unauthorized use a Commonwealth car and $954 wine purchase. Slipper’s acquittal received almost no coverage in newspapers, which ran a relentless fake tabloid campaign against him for months in 2012 and 2013.

inside messenger of the sun Ashby touched on the assassination of the right-wing provocateur in the news Charlie Kirk In America, with recent reported attempts on the President’s life EmbersAs examples of what could happen to Senator Hanson.

Hanson was quoted as saying he felt safe in Queensland, but not in other places where a single mentally unstable person could pose a security risk; This suggested that Australians south of the Queensland border were more likely to be citizens prone to mental instability, when a leading politician from the Far Right spoke harshly of purging the country of people who did not conform to the Judeo-Christian monoculture.

While many Australians in 2026 don’t know what such a monoculture would look like, Hanson adds to the fear that it may not include them, especially if it includes crowds of immigrants of Muslim heritage or swarms of transgender athletes disrupting elite sports competitions and invading women’s toilets.

If Hanson had frightened many citizens, Ashby might have a point. However, the history of political assassinations in Australia can be reduced to the attempt of a 19-year-old teenager. Peter Kochan Open Arthur Calwell the second in 1966 when he spoke against conscription as leader of the Opposition Labor Party.

Your husband explained after the failed attempt that he didn’t have much against Calwell, but he had to do something “unusual” set it up “except no one else”. He added that assassinations are also on the agenda along with the killing of people. Malcolm X Assassinations of the President in 1965 John F Kennedy Just two years ago in Dallas.

Similar things can be said for a 20-year-old child. Thomas CrooksCrooks, who was shot to death after firing a rifle at President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, was a registered Republican who was identified by the FBI as potentially searching for both Republican and Democratic campaign events online. ‘goals for opportunity’.

According to this reading, Crooks’ target was easily Joe BidenWho was the other presidential candidate at the time? like John Wilkes Boothwho carried out the assassination Abraham Lincoln There is a reasonable possibility that in 1865 Crooks was looking for an event, any event, that would immortalize his name.

The murder of Charlie Kirk by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was in a different category; Robinson appeared to have a personal reason. In family conversations before the shooting, he allegedly accused Kirk of spreading hatred.

Prosecutors said Robinson left a note for her partner, Lance Twiggs, who transitioned from male to female. reading notes: ‘I had the opportunity to take on Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.’ Kirk had weaponized transgender issues in his rallies.

While Hanson’s complaints include the transgender resurgence, he also covers other issues that, if enacted, would negatively affect many ordinary Australians. In searching for a possible voter base, Hanson does not seem to realize that large numbers of multicultural and multiracial Australians now constitute the Australian public; This number is much higher than when he first ran for office 30 years ago in 1996.

That doesn’t necessarily mean there will be an assassination threat from the Australians, but Ashby might like the idea to function like a dog whistle.

Such a threat is also likely to come from elsewhere, including Hanson’s own supporters and particularly those who listened with disappointment to the One Nation leader in his prepared speech about how a multiracial Australia was acceptable and distinguished that concept from the evil of a multicultural Australia.

How many One Nation supporters make up the white supremacist constituency is anyone’s guess, but the most zealous among them will certainly hear this distinction as a perverse sellout of Hansonist orthodoxy. It would have been helpful if a journalist at the Press Club had quizzed Hanson with a probing question about this distinction after he had put down his prepared script to get a better feel for it.

To gain a historical perspective on assassinations carried out by supporters, Mahatma Gandhiassassin in 1948 Nathuram GodseA Hindu nationalist who accepted Gandhi’s Hindu commitment but saw his pacifism as an unacceptable betrayal of the Hindu abhorrence of the Muslim enemy.

At least Pauline Hanson has a reason to be self-serving. “please explain” its seemingly overdue embrace of a multiracial Australia.

Paul Begley is a Melbourne writer who has worked in public relations roles for many years, most recently as general manager of government and media relations at the Australian HR Institute.

Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.