EXPLAINER: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party Is The Real Winner In Federal Election
The One Nation Party has returned with a vengeance, and will become the fourth largest party in the Senate after the Coalition, ALP and the Greens. Which forces one to wonder, are we back in 1996 and how did we get here?
With 4.3 percent of the total votes, Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party has managed to grab four Senate seats. Yes. Four. Hanson, who is known for her racist controversial policies now holds a balance of power in the Senate.
With the Guardian Australia dubbing the leader “Queen Pauline of the Parliament” – it’s looking like the radical fringe party might have more power than anyone could have imagined.
The ALP has lashed out at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for calling a double dissolution, a decision which lowered the voting threshold required for a party to enter the Senate.
Labor MP, Tony Burke posted a video on Facebook outlining how Turnbull’s election lead to the political revival of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party.
Watch the vid below:
If the PM and the Coalition are to pass anything through the Upper House over the next few years, they will have to either cooperate with One Nation or the Greens.
With the rise of the Liberals ultra-right wing faction, creating alliances with the Greens seems highly unlikely, and rather deals with One Nation seems more probable.
This is going to be a two-way street. With the Coalition asking for support from One Nation to pass their legislation, One Nation will surely ask the same from the Liberal/Nationals.
This could mean that Hanson could pass some utterly discriminatory legislation, such as her proposed plan to install CCTV in Mosques.
Thankfully, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has said he absolutely rejects such a notion, and that there are “ratbags” in every religion, and we should not start collectively punishing members of the world’s largest religion.
However, with the Senate numbers in a deadlock, compromise is a must. So we are only left wondering if Barnaby Joyce will actually stand by his words.