1st November 2000
In this morning's SMH respected journalist Michelle Grattan suggests that Pauline Hanson and One Nation have at last turned into a dead-end road. This presumption is made in the light of Prime Minister John Howard's statement that One Nation candidates WILL be placed last on their how to vote cards.
This is not only an attack on One Nation, this is not only an attack on Pauline Hanson, this is an attack on the one million voters by the Prime Minister of this nation.
This is the man who talks about the great Australian ethos of a 'a fair go', about the famous Australian sense of democracy and it was the SAME man who refused to lay a glove on Hanson when 'his Liberal Party' were covertly working to 'get the numbers in the Senate.'
The truth is that this is a blatant and dishonourable attempt to squeeze out of existence a group of people who threaten the two party system. The very fact that it is politically expedient to propel the image of race, of discrimination, of multiculturalism for purposes of remaining 'non-controversial', may wash well with the normal tooing and froing of the electorate, but it takes no account of the million voters who are angry at the hypocrisy of both major parties. There is a disturbing perception, well-based on the dishonesty of the parliament's predisposition to 'look after it's own' be it the Prime Minister's totally dishonest defence on spurious detail of his minister in the matter of a mere Phonecard, or the using of Commonwealth vehicles that incurred loss of life, not by the parliamentarian himself, but by his friend's girl friend. There was a weak defence of this by not the Prime Minister, but the Leader of the Opposition, the same man who allowed our taxpayer funds to bail out a disgraced former leader and then after a period of time (they might forget) have her moved to the front-benches. Mere mortals can be jailed for parking offences!
It is this cancer, endorsed by our 'leaders' (for goodness sake how much longer are we going to tolerate this) that gave rise to people supporting a lone maverick in the first place.
I have been taken to task for having 'abandoned' and roundly criticised this maverick and then continuing to uphold her. Yes I am guilty of that. But it is the great frustration of not seeing anyone on the horizon that comes within a bull's roar of Hanson that allows me the escape mechanism to continue to 'bat for her.' Too many of her 'trusted people' have deserted her and whether I like her or not is not the point. Hanson remains the only barrier to retaining the 'two party', cosy arrangement. The two party system is becoming dangerously oppressive and openly arrogant. Hanson is, inspite of her shortcomings, the only weapon we have to strike back with.
There has to be a mass outcry on this issue. We the people cannot allow ourselves to be 'manipulated into oblivion'. What Howard is doing is wrong! We must not allow this deliberate system of annihilating public sentiment to be put down. We are not living in Russia …yet.