No, Pauline, 63 per cent of Australians do not use candles

Pollsters and newsrooms are culpable for Australia’s worst media failure in recent memory, as Alan Austin reports.

SENATOR Pauline Hanson’s appalling speech at the National Press Club (NPC) contained multiple falsehoods.

No one expected the moderator, who self-describes as “the Club’s president and also a host at Sky News Australia”, to interrupt her with fact checks, although that would have served the nation.

But at the end of the presentation, he should have identified the principal glaring lies, affirmed that the Club does not approve and apologised. Instead, we saw complicit silence.

Major fail for Redbridge

This serious setback to Australia’s social cohesion started with a series of destructive “stories” in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) claiming Hanson’s political party has become Australia’s most popular:

‘Why One Nation forming a minority government is no longer implausible’ (AFR, 22 May)
‘Is this our political future? New poll lays out One Nation surge, Labor minority’ (AFR, 22 May)
‘One Nation surges ahead of Labor as budget flops’ (AFR, 31 May)
‘Pauline for prime minister? That’s where the preference deals lead’ (AFR, 1 June)

These were based on manifestly absurd polling by Redbridge Group, which gave Australia’s racists, homophobes and religious bigots an extraordinarily elevated platform.

Pauline Hanson, Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the IA story

IA founder Dave Donovan explains why holding politicians like Joe Bjelke-Petersen and Pauline Hanson to account is paramount for Independent Australia, and has shaped its existence.

Other outlets then joined the chorus:

‘New polling shows One Nation is now Australia's most popular political party’ (SBS News, 1 June)
‘One Nation climbs past Labor in new poll’ (The Saturday Paper, 1 June)
‘Anthony Albanese approval sinks as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation overtakes Labor in Newspoll’ (The Nightly, 8 June)
‘Sky News Pulse: One Nation ready to govern’ (The Weekly Times, 17 June)

There is, of course, zero chance that One Nation, which has two lower house seats – both gained through circumstances unlikely to recur – will ever defeat Labor which has 94.

Long record of poll fails

In July 2024, Redbridge reported that former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s LNP would beat Anthony Albanese’s Labor Government 51.5% to 48.5% at the May 2025 Election. In August 2024, they had the major parties equal on 50% each. In November 2024, the LNP was ahead 51% to 49%. As late as February 2025, Dutton was going to romp it in 52% to 48%.

Redbridge gets such stupid results because they ask the wrong questions:

‘If a federal election for the House of Representatives were held today, which of the following would you give your first preference vote to?’

Of course, respondents know this is not reality. They are not voting today. They understand pollsters want controversy and disruption. Many Aussies, happy to go along with a prank, then say, “Yeah, no worries, I’ll vote for Pauline.”

If, instead, respondents were asked to think forward towards 2028, they would answer differently: “Yeah, nah, Labor probably deserves a kick in the pants, but they’re better than the others. Albo again.”

Other pollsters were just as foolish. Freshwater Strategy in September 2024 had the Coalition beating Labor 52% to 48%. Resolve Strategic had Dutton giving Albo a shellacking in February 2025, 55% to 45%. Roy Morgan claimed in January 2025 that the Coalition would win 52% to 48%.

None of these was close. Albo won decisively 55.22% to 44.78%. Why? They all asked the wrong questions.

Hanson and the media: an unholy alliance of the ruling class

Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech has been widely reported as a glorious victory for the populist demagogue.

Press Gallery major fail

Arguably, the most destructive upshot of Redbridge/AFR boosting One Nation with their fake polls was Hanson fronting the Press Club in Canberra last Wednesday.

The NPC’s speaker profile read less like a professional CV and more like a petition for sainthood:

‘She’s a devoted mother with four children and five grandchildren. Pauline is very much like the people she does her best to represent... Pauline never lost sight of her goal: to be a strong voice for the Australian people in the halls of power, to stand up for the interests of Australia first and foremost, and to defend the values, rights, freedoms and principles which made Australia a strong, successful democratic country.’

The Press Club has now gone the way of the Press Council and ABC News. Its charters obliges members to challenge the liars and shonks seeking to control Australia's news narratives, but they have chosen instead to facilitate them.

Its members can now be assumed to be lobbyists rather than reporters unless proven otherwise.

For the record, Hanson was asked good questions by Mark Riley, John Paul Janke, Anna Henderson, Jason Koutsoukis and the woman Hanson called “a trashy journalist”, Sarah Martin.

She was served up soft, sycophantic questions by Tom Connell, Greg Brown, James Massola, Michael de Percy and Cameron Reddin.

Clive Palmer and the cult of Pauline Hanson

Will there be a shakedown at the next election between One Nation, backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart, and fellow mining magnate Clive Palmer's United Australia Party?

Hardship in Australia

Hanson’s entire nine-minute recitation of the poverty afflicting Australians was mendacious.

The Senator claimed:

“...of the 4,400 people surveyed [by the Salvation Army] 63% said they used candles and torches for lighting their homes, 49% said they go to public places like shopping centres to keep warm or cool, 51% can’t afford a doctor and 46% can’t afford prescription medicine”.

What Hanson failed to clarify was that those surveyed were drawn from Australia’s most destitute.

We know from their annual reports that the Salvos served 228,500 clients in 2024-25 in every corner of the country, down from 250,000+ two years earlier. That’s 0.83% of all residents.

The actual percentage, therefore, of Australians living by torchlight is 63% of 0.83% of the 28 million population. That’s 0.53% of all Australians, fewer than 15,000.

Similarly, poor folks keeping warm in the mall are 0.41%, while only 0.38% struggle to pay for medicines.

The other critical observation missing last week is that current percentages, while still too high, are lower today than at any time since records have been kept.

No one in the Press Club pointed this out. Most of them apparently don’t mind the racism, bigotry and constant lies.

They deserve to be among the 0.031% permanently homeless.

Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001 and Bluesky @alanaustin.bsky.social.