Once defined by dissent and solidarity, Generation X is now fuelling Pauline Hanson’s resurgence — driven less by conviction than by disillusionment, fear and misplaced anger, writes James May.
SENATOR Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has surged in the polls, claiming 26% of the vote, while the former Coalition has plummeted to 19%. One Nation’s share of the vote is higher in regional Australia at 35% and Pauline Hanson is now the most popular leader in the country.
One Nation was founded in 1997, and it's had a boost this year as voters on the Right desert the Coalition and veterans like MP Barnaby Joyce defect to its ranks. At the recent March for Australia anti-immigration rallies, support for One Nation was solid on the ground. Pauline Hanson was the star speaker at a rally in Brisbane where people waved signs that read ‘Pauline 4 PM’.
As a voter from Generation X, I’m alarmed about the growing number of men in our cohort throwing their support behind One Nation.
We came of age in the 1990s. It was a nihilistic time with bands like Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine. We lived in the heart of the city when it was shabby and cheap, and rented crumbling terrace houses. The Howard era dragged on for years and we were disillusioned with politics.
My friends were staunchly left-wing and supported equal rights for everyone, regardless of race, gender and sexuality. We loathed the Coalition and right-wing politicians like Pauline Hanson.
I stuck to my beliefs over the years, but I can’t say the same for all my Generation X peers.
One couple recently announced they were “proudly right-wing”. They said LGBTQIA+ rights had gone too far and they wanted gay marriage repealed. They had no desire to marry, but said the institution should be reserved for heterosexuals.
Another guy blamed “radical feminists” when his marriage failed. He said the Me Too movement drove a wedge between men and women. He made degrading comments about transgender people and said his kids were being home-schooled because he didn’t want them exposed to “woke ideology”.
A queer friend went down the QAnon rabbit hole during the COVID pandemic. He preached about the “deep state” and “corrupt” politicians like Bill Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama. He applauded the insurrection at the White House in 2021 and said Donald Trump was a “hero” who would challenge the status quo.
Trump's administration has wiped out food assistance and health care for millions, wound back abortion rights and killed protesters in Minneapolis.
In Australia, political power has swung from Labor to the Coalition for years with very little change. The cost of living keeps rising, inequality is more pronounced and it’s hard for people to find a stable home. Life is getting tougher and frustrated voters want politicians to do something about it.
Pauline Hanson and One Nation are not the answer.
In regional Australia, where I live, the climate denial inside One Nation would be devastating. Pauline Hanson wants to leave the Paris Agreement, and has described climate change as a “scam” and “the greatest hoax” of this century.
As we battle another summer, Victorians have faced catastrophic bushfires, loss of life and the hottest temperatures on record. In Pauline Hanson’s home state of Queensland, Cyclone Koji ravaged the north and towns like Bowen and Airlie Beach were inundated with floods and rain.
Meanwhile, Pauline has been living it up with billionaire Gina Rinehart and partying with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. She might pretend to be an “Aussie battler”, but she’s nowhere to be found when people are battling fires and floods on the ground.
Pauline Hanson and One Nation love stoking racism and culture wars.
They vilify migrants who seek a better life in Australia and work hard in our schools, hospitals and nursing homes, and perform other vital roles. One Nation wants to reduce immigration by over 570,000 from current levels.
Pauline Hanson has denigrated our First Nations’ communities for decades. She has no empathy or solutions for the challenges they face, including shocking levels of incarceration, rising deaths in custody and deplorable rates of poverty and suicide.
Now she’s attacking the LGBTQIA+ community as well. In her latest stunt, Pauline Hanson teamed up with Holly Valance. The right-wing popstar released a song to promote Hanson’s animated film, A Super Progressive Movie. The song and the film poke fun at left-wing politics and insult LGBTQIA+ people.
A brawl erupted at the launch of the film in Melbourne.
We might be facing high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis in this country, but Pauline Hanson and One Nation will make things worse. Their policies lack substance and detail, and their politics are harmful and divisive. It’s the last thing we need when social cohesion is strained.
Pauline Hanson has been compared to Donald Trump in the U.S. and Nigel Farage in the UK. The social and political turmoil in those countries is a good reason not to vote for her.
James May is a freelance writer and his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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