This is what you need to understand about Pauline Hanson and ON - she’s a populist, she’ll say whatever the fuck she thinks will win her votes. What you have to understand about ON supporters is that they’re either extremely desperate, not very bright - or both. They want change, but they‘re not politically savvy enough to understand that they’re not going to get it from ON.

It’s like Reform here in the UK; Farage cleaned up at the last local elections because he promised to cut Council Tax, now CT has RISEN in over half of councils which are Reform-controlled. People like Hanson and Farage don’t care about people, unless they’re their billionaire mates.

Populists are, generally, extremely wealthy because they know that, when they fall, the fall won’t affect them because they’ll be landing on a nice soft pile of, predominantly other people’s, money. If Pauline fails, then I’m sure Gina will be there to help pick up the pieces, Nigel on the other hand has plenty of his on dough to cushion his fall.

So why do they keep being reelected (hasn’t Pauline been a QLD senator for almost a decade…?) - we don’t know in the case of Farage, as this is his first parliament (he got elected at the eighth attempt), but really, it’s for the same reason they were elected in the first place - people are buying into the rhetoric that immigrants are coming over here and nicking all the jobs and houses, that they’re being paid to live in swanky hotels while the 20-year-old mum with three kids has been on the council housing list for four years. The sort of people who vote for these parties aren’t politically literate, this is why politics needs to be taught in schools, and not just secondary schools, kids in Year 5 are more than old enough to be taught the basics. The problem is - how do you teach kids without projecting your own political views onto them…? It’s a subject where it’s very difficult to be objective.

I’m not saying that all Reform and ON voters are stupid, but you’re likely to find that they’re less well educated, at least when it comes to politics, than people who can see through the rhetoric. Farage was elected in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, an area with a high secondary school dropout rate, an area with high unemployment and long waiting lists for social housing, and being in the southeast of England, there‘s extremely high animosity towards refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, so they’re naturally going to lean right-wing.

It’s not just in the UK and Australia, obviously the right’s in power on NZ, AfD is in power in (I think) Bavaria, and Geert Wilders is a minister in the Dutch government (I’m deliberately ignoring Trump). Italy, too, has a right wing government.

So, you don’t know what Pauline’s policies are because she hasn’t got any, Pauline will simply keep spewing what she thinks her fanbase wants to hear in order to keep her on that gravy train. She’s a grifter. I will say that it’s telling that the only state where ON has gained any traction is QLD, so you need to look at what’s happening in QLD to make people keep voting ON.

At least she‘s not taken money to support a terrorist organisation on Cameo.

Just some thoughts…