Australians are waking up to the One Nation con

One Nation's support is slipping as voters increasingly see through the party's rhetoric on multiculturalism, economic competence and whose interests it really serves, writes Dr Victoria Fielding.

ONE NATION is being found out, as more and more Australians wake up to the fact that the party is a total con.

This con is a three-dimensional magic trick, a sleight of hand, conducted by snake oil salespeople. If One Nation’s polling dip is to be believed, Australians are quickly waking up to this fraud. They only need to recognise the fraud in one dimension and the One Nation house of cards falls down.

The three dimensions of the One Nation con – their foundational lies – include the idea that Australia is best served by a White monoculture, that One Nation politicians could competently run the country and that One Nation serves the interests of ordinary people. I will deal with each in turn.

For 30 years, One Nation has opposed immigration, multiculturalism and cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. This racist, xenophobic – let me explain it to you, Pauline – politics in reality requires One Nation to turn the White majority against people who do not look like them by blaming non-White people for society’s structural problems.

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This scapegoating, this divisive us-White-people against them-non-White-people includes nasty, racist rhetoric, stunts and unrelenting disinformation which falsely accuses minority groups of stealing White people’s jobs, schools, hospitals, of criminal activity and welfare fraud.

Hanson and her fellow One Nation MPs use lies about minority groups to whip up hatred towards, particularly Muslim, Australians, but also historically Asian Australians and throughout her entire career, Indigenous Australians, under the guise of promoting a “monoculture” in opposition to multiculturalism.

Yet, right when Hanson’s polls were peaking, the Socceroos demonstrated in the FIFA World Cup what it means to have strength in diversity. They did more than show this in their teamwork, their talent and their ability to make Australians proud even when they do not win. They bravely told Australians why they are proud of their multiculturalism, which is a symbol of the value of multiculturalism to Australia.

Pauline Hanson then went out of her way to make herself look weak and insecure by cozying up to pro-monoculture-White-supremacist Tommy Robinson. The juxtaposition between the strong and brave multicultural Socceroos, and the tiny, fragile little snowflake Robinson demonstrated how pathetic Hanson’s concept of monoculture is, and in turn, how petty and small-minded Hanson is. Once you see this, you cannot unsee.

The next con to come crashing down is the laughable notion that One Nation could ever run the Government. This notion was destroyed by One Nation’s proposed policy of providing 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5 per cent through Australia Post.

The release of this policy marked a shambolic attempt for One Nation to move from a racist-slogan-disinformation-infested protest party to a mainstream party contender. This attempt not only failed but also spectacularly crashed and burned. It demonstrated that not only is One Nation economically and financially illiterate, but that it does not understand the fundamental concepts of supply and demand in a market.

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The first paragraph of the Australian Financial Review’s analysis of the policy critiqued it for requiring:

‘...the Federal Government to find hundreds of billions of dollars, expose taxpayers to significant losses during downturns and drive up house prices.’

This trifecta of failure shows One Nation is a total joke of a political party when it comes to actual policies. This reality will surely give at least a little pause to One Nation voters who presumably do not love the idea of taxes being raised to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fund mortgage rates that will make housing even more unaffordable in the future.

Perhaps if One Nation had consulted some actual economists and policy experts in designing their policy… Oh, wait, that’s right, One Nation opposes all expertise on principle, so it obviously cannot do that. Once Australians see that a vote for One Nation is not just a protest, but could contribute to crashing the entire economy, it will hopefully continue to create at least some anxiety amongst some of them.

The final con is perhaps the biggest of all: the lie that One Nation has the interests of ordinary Australians at heart. In reality, it is obvious that Hanson and her party do not care about anyone in Australia who is not a billionaire.

The labour movement is doing a great job of reminding workers that every time Hanson has had an opportunity in 30 years to advance their interests, she has voted against them. Hanson, again, in all her own-goal glory, is also doing her best to expose One Nation’s con herself. She was photographed last week poolside with billionaire far-right activist Gina Rinehart at the same luxury Italian resort where The White Lotus was filmed — a show literally about horrible rich people.

Hanson is not just exposing the One Nation con on her billionaire holiday jaunt, but is rubbing her voters’ noses in it. Through the weakness of her monoculture activism, the ineptitude of her policy and her admission about who she works to serve, Australians are waking up to the One Nation con.

Long may One Nation’s polling continue to slide accordingly.