News: A closely-fought Australian election has brought with it the revival of a fringe party led by right-wing politician Pauline Hanson, showing the country is not immune to the anti-immigration mood sweeping parts of western Europe and the U.S.
While Hanson’s party secured only 4.2 percent of the primary vote in Australia’s upper house, that’s enough under the country’s preferential voting system to secure her a Senate spot and the chance to influence legislation. Another Hanson-led One Nation party candidate may win a Senate seat.
Hanson, who wants a Royal Commission into Islam and a ban on the wearing of the Burqa in public, benefited from a protest vote against the major parties. She was also helped by the implosion of another small, conservative group, the Palmer United Party, and needed only half the usual votes to win a seat due to the counting peculiarities created by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to force an early election.
“We’re in danger of being swamped by Muslims,” Hanson, 62, told News Corp. in May, even as data show they represent just 2 percent of the population. “If you’re going to bury your head in the sand about it, you’re a fool.”
Senate Count
Hanson’s influence over the next government remains to be seen, and the Senate makeup is not yet finalized. During her brief stint in parliament 20 years ago, the Liberal-National coalition government of the time criticized her views on Asian immigration as misguided and dangerous, and she faded from view as her party imploded in infighting.
But as governments around the world battle concern about refugees and immigrants — U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump is threatening to build a wall to keep Mexicans out — fueled in part by rising income inequality and jobless rates, Hanson’s anti-Asian, anti-Muslim rhetoric may be harder to shut down.
“Disillusionment with the major parties is clearly a trend in Australia, as elsewhere,” said Anne Tiernan, a political scientist at Brisbane’s Griffith University. “They will have to be careful in the way they deal with Hanson and will need to walk a fine line between understanding, but not accepting, some of the more extreme views she represents.”
