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? Trying to outflank the Hard-Right from the Right is an ambitious exercise, writes investigation editor Ross Jones.

ONANISM is on the rise.

According to The Australian of 7 June:

'Core support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has surged ahead of Labor for the first time in Newspoll history, as Anthony Albanese’s popularity hit record lows and an overwhelming majority of voters declare Australian politics is overdue for a big shake-up.'

If history is any guide, Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON) would go for a shakedown.

The Murdoch myth has convinced a large chunk of the electorate they are doing it tough because of immigration.

What Hanson should be asked at the National Press Club

As Pauline Hanson's National Press Club appearance nears, Dr Abul Rizvi prepares a list of questions she has yet to answer.

Maybe because of a volatile world, U.S. and Chinese trade bans, tariffs, oil embargos, wars and so forth, but really? Immigration?

This fertile soup is the food source of ONanism — the cult of Pauline Hanson.

Many PHON supporters are not full-on ONanists; they’re just seriously pissed off that the sector of the economy that affects them is under-performing and life, by their standards, is the pits.

Fair enough.

ONanists are a completely different kettle of fish.

They have an unshakeable belief in the leader regardless of her documented contradictions. Don’t get between a cult member and an entitled view.

But it’s not all one way.

Adding impetus to this maelstrom of weirdness is Australia’s other Great Right Hope, Clive Palmer.

Pretty much anybody in Australia with a letter box or a passing interest in newspapers has seen Clive’s yellow ad for his United Australia Party.

Who knows why?

Election after election, he gets trounced, yet election after election, he gets up and has another go.

He did get a numbers-lucky Victorian Senate place for Berwick real estate agent Ralph Babet, a man who has yet to trouble the political scorer.

Like PHON, Clive reckons he’s going to "run candidates in every lower house electorate as well as all senate contests across the country".

That takes money and Clive seems to have plenty. But not as much as Gina.

Clive has one big advantage, though – immigration.

While the timid ONanists espouse ‘capping visas at 130,000 per year to ease pressure on housing, wages, and infrastructure’, Clive goes all the way with zero immigration.

Under the United Australia Party's policy, immigration would be limited to 'family reunions and limited work permits for major national projects'.

Like mining, for example.

No student intake at all. Australians would be reduced to picking up their own takeaways.

Poor Clive and Ralph are floundering in a sea of irrelevance.

Clive Palmer emulates Musk to get Dutton elected

Nutjob candidates, cooker alliances and crocodile tears notwithstanding, Palmer's endgame isn’t winning seats, it's ensuring the "drill, baby, drill" party is returned to power.

Trying to outflank the Hard-Right from the Right is an ambitious exercise. Up against ONanism, Clive will be no more than a bug on the windscreen, unless he’s got a trick or two up his sleeve.

Palmer is already spending up big to contest an election that’s still 23 months away, but he hasn’t got what it takes to front a successful political party and it's hard to see the point or use of Ralph Babet.

But Clive’s got enough bucks to be a thorn in the Right side of politics and he’s going to spend them trying to do just that.

Apart from flooding the streets with lurid yellow litter, Palmer’s longer-term strategy for giving the cult a meaningful fright has yet to be revealed.

Clive will be pushing it uphill to make a dent in the alleged popularity of Australian politics’ version of the Exclusive Brethren, but you can bet he’ll give it a go.

That’s the spirit!

Ross Jones is IA's investigations editor and the author of the two-year investigation, Ashbygate: the plot to destroy Australia's Speaker, published by IA in 2015 and available HERE.