By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The crisis in Pauline Hanson's racist One Nation party has deepened. Hanson attacked the Queensland state MPs who resigned recently as "traitors", and warned that One Nation candidates would stand against the defectors.
Dorothy Pratt, Shaun Nelson and Ken Turner resigned on February 5 over dictatorial control of the party by the central troika of Hanson, David Oldfield and David Ettridge, and opposition to the proposed new One Nation constitution, which would further entrench the trio's power.
On February 11, Hanson demanded that two other MPs, John Kingston and Jeff Knuth, who have been wavering about their membership, make up their minds immediately.
National Party state director Ken Crooke said his party would not rule out accepting defectors into its fold. Any such decision would be made on a case-by-case basis by local electorate councils, Crooke said.
"Crooke's comment shows nothing much has changed", Graham Matthews, Brisbane organiser of the Democratic Socialist Party, told Green Left Weekly. "Politically, One Nation was partly a split from the Nationals by old racist, right-wing populist forces. It would be no great surprise if the Nationals manoeuvred to get some of these forces back."
"While the anti-racist movement can take some satisfaction in this split in One Nation, these developments should only spur us on to greater efforts this year", Matthews said. "The racist policies espoused by Hanson and Co. on native title and immigration are being implemented by the Howard government, with and the federal Labor opposition and ALP state government's complicity. The anti-racist movement should mobilise even more strongly to take advantage of One Nation's disarray."