by Alan Doak - 13th February 1999
Last night I attended a Public Meeting hosted by the Waterford Branch of One Nation and held at the Community Hall, Bethania on Brisbane's south side. I had been led to believe that attendees were to be treated to a protest and walk-out by a small number of people. This was to take place in front of Pauline Hanson but for what reason I wasn't told. It appeared to me, when told of this, that it was to be a rather negative and futile act given that the threats and demands of the Queensland One Nation MPs had been met. As these MPs were supposedly speaking on behalf, albeit without consultation, of all One Nation members I should have thought that any such acts would have been just that; acts.
As it transpired, Pauline did not attend but sent her apologies. This I take it was not in the script and naturally put a bit of a damper on the performers as they now had nobody to walk out on. The meeting had been billed as having a "group discussion on future directions" and had been scheduled long before the muck hit the fan on "Black Friday". So begins the group discussion. As previously mentioned, the demands of the Queensland MPs had been met already and so there was nothing much to discuss. One of the cast was not going to be denied his moment of glory and publicly let fly with all the things that he had been wanting to say since joining One Nation about a year ago. This came as no surprise to me because, quite honestly, I could never work out what he was doing in One Nation anyway as we never did anything right in his eyes.
Then came John Carson, visiting from the Gold Coast branch.. Most Branches on the south side would have encountered this character at some time. Carson is best known for his rudeness and disruptive practices while visiting other branches, although he gained notoriety this past week when he told Pauline Hanson to "piss off" from a meeting of the Gold Coast Branch, much to the disgust and shame of the members and supporters present. Even last night when he addressed the Waterford meeting he spoke, with what I interpreted as pride, of his rudeness to Pauline. Anyone who remembers Carson's "Cage Rattler" exercise of 1993, designed to save Australia by writing pages of waffle and then getting the unemployed to sell it for $3.00 a time will be pleased to know that nothing has changed.
Time for Carson's grand performance and unlike other speakers who spoke from the floor, the "Cage Rattler" had to be centre stage. The audience was then treated to about 20 minutes of unmemorable anti-Pauline, anti-Oldfield, anti-Ettridge, anti-Constitution, anti-you name it and it copped it, tripe. Not one positive word uttered. This marvelous performance when eventually ended was rewarded with the muffled sound of a single, yes, one only clap. The look on his face was priceless. We later learned that the well deserved single clap offered by the person who had gotten a lift with him from the Gold Coast and wanted to be assured of a ride home. During his performance he deeply offended a member of the audience by casting aspersions on her homeland, Singapore. She became so upset that she had to leave the hall but returned after the meeting to rebuke him.
Whilst on the subject, it is probably worthy of note that John Carson was one of Paul Trewartha's selectively invited "concerned citizens" that met in a private meeting on the Gold Coast as reported in The Australian online on 11th February, just prior to his night of insult to Pauline. If his arrogant attitude is typical amongst the "concerned citizens" then God help us if they ever get control. Carson said in his performance that all One Nation branches had been "split asunder" but backed it up with no statistical evidence. To counter his outrageous claim I produced some numbers for the meeting. As Editor of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Update magazine, I received an enormous number of calls on and after "Black Friday" regarding the MPs threats. The score : 2 Negatives to 224 Positives. One of the negative callers, you guessed it, was none other than John Carson who actually phone twice. On the first call he told me in true democratic style that he "hoped that they hung me" for the editorial I wrote in the February Update. Very democratic. On the second call he was so rude to my wife that she was forced to hang up on him. The other caller was extremely civil but believed that I had no right to publish things that conflicted with his beliefs and so in his own words he "supported censorship". Now isn't that a great launching pad for people who say One Nation is un-democratic?
The final wash-up of the evening, One Nation is alive and well despite the best efforts of the "Cage Rattling concerned citizen" to assure us otherwise. One Nation has a heart that is beating strongly and an immune system that despite attacks from various infections and viruses, appears able to repel and regenerate. Long may she live.
Allan W. Doak
Comment by Scott Balson:
The commentary you read in the discredited mainstream press about a collapse within "One Nation" revolves around a few white antslike John Carson - Doak's commentary aptly sums up the view of most members of the party.
Organiser responds
ref: Another Night - Another failed attempt on the life of One Nation
As one of the organisers of the meeting refered to in this meeting I take umbrage at the apparent depiction that this meeting was designed to be harmful to One Nation or as a staged event to further the agenda(s) of any particular individual(s).
This meeting was organised and Pauline Hanson invited before Christmas, well before any of the current troubles surfaced.
The events of recent days led to the decision by several committee members of the branch to present their resignations to Pauline at the meeting, however it was to be done in private and without fanfare.
This was a public meeting and we were determined to allow all viewpoints to be put. The fact that individuals present had views not in accordance with those of the author is not grounds to condemn the event as being designed to bring about the demise of One Nation.
I feel it is a great shame that the members of the Waterford Branch have been besmirched for seeking a fair and honest interchange of ideas. Such actions do nothing to further the cause of One Nation and further reinforce the views held by some regarding the democratic processes applied within the party.
Owen Dare