By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — The mass media has been attempting to quieten fears of the possibility of One Nation winning seats at the federal election.
The September 6 Sunday Mail said Hanson could lose the seat of Blair, claiming that an opinion poll placed Hanson behind the National and Liberal parties.
The September 5 Weekend Australian carried a photo of Hanson outside a home in Ipswich captioned: "I hear you knocking but you can't come in". News programs have pilloried One Nation's 2% tax plan. Even Hanson's recent upstaging of Victorian premier Jeff Kennett in Toowoomba was made into a joke by the media.
Hanson is not receiving the same amount of adulation as she received in the Queensland media during the state election here. One Nation won 11 seats. One Nation is no longer simply a novelty, but poses a serious threat to the two-party system in the lower house, as well as the Senate.
Nevertheless, the social factors that led to the success of One Nation in rural Queensland are not unique. The crisis being experienced by small farmers and growers in the horticultural belt of Queensland is reproduced in rural centres across Australia.
Deregulation, competition, lack of planning (i.e. economic "rationalism") is having a devastating impact on the viability of small farms and small communities. The closure of banks and other services is exacerbating the problems.
In Queensland, the pork industry, severely affected by deregulation, has launched a campaign to unseat Coalition MPs. While this is not a "vote One Nation" campaign, Labor is not seen as a serious alternative.
At the same time, National Party candidates are running scared and giving One Nation their preferences — a move that may let some One Nation MPs into the new parliament.
While Labor takes the "principled " stand of putting Hanson last in its preferences, it has done nothing to combat One Nation's openly racist and populist appeal (the new Labor Queensland government has been the first to implement Howard's racist 10-point plan).
Labor's star recruit, Cheryl Kernot, argues that One Nation should be ignored. The seat Kernot hopes to win, Dixon, is under threat from One Nation.
Ignoring One Nation delivered 11 One Nation MPs to the Queensland parliament on June 13. How many will it deliver to Canberra on October 3?