Australia's far-right One Nation may rise from the ashes
special.scmp.com
The xenophobic One Nation party, thought to
be dead and buried, may get a chance to
rise from the ashes in two state ballots this
month, flying the flag for Australians opposed
to Asian immigration and for those who want
the freedom to own guns.
Political analysts said One Nation, led by
anti-foreigner firebrand Pauline Hanson, was
likely to dip into rural discontent with Prime
Minister John Howard's conservative
Liberal/National coalition and return to the
political stage with a vengeance.
"I think the view that One Nation was dead
and buried was always hope triumphing over
reason," John Warhurst, professor of political science at the Australian
National University, said.
"Evidence of (the party's) collapse is there ... but I would not be
surprised if there still was a substantial pool of support, if not for One
Nation itself then at least for the positions it represents," he told
Reuters on Thursday.
Western Australia, run by a Liberal/National coalition, goes to the
ballot on February 10 to elect a new premier. Queensland, known as
the "sunshine state," and ruled by the centre-left Labor Party, votes on
February 17.
The state elections will precede a federal election expected to be
called later this year, when Howard will be seeking a third consecutive
term at the helm of the vast island continent.
SPENT FORCE OR DORMANT GIANT?
One Nation, campaigning against Asian immigration, for looser gun
controls and for an end to what it terms as privileges for Aborigines,
took 25 percent of the Queensland state vote in 1998. In the federal
election the same year, it won one million votes and elected a federal
senator.
But the party imploded as all of its elected Queensland members of
parliament resigned, defected or were sacked, as the red-headed
Hanson and her allies feuded and brawled, and as its only senator was
disqualified.
Yet disillusion among One Party supporters may not be as deep as
political pundits argue in writing Hanson off.
"Expect One Nation to vote extremely strong," Gary Gray, a former
president of the Labor Party, told a seminar organised earlier this week
by the Sydney Institute.
Political analysts said the country vote, where One Nation finds its
stronghold, harboured a deep resentment against Howard due to a
perception that "the bush" had been let down by the parties it
traditionally supported.
The coalition has been blamed for banks closing rural branches,
telephone company Telstra centralising its operations in metropolitan
areas, and for tightening up gun controls.
One Nation is fielding candidates in all the Western Australia districts.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday that an opinion poll
had found support for One Nation at 46 percent in one Western
Australia district.
Howard and the main opposition Australian Labor Party ganged up
against One Nation in the federal vote of 1998, and can be expected to
do the same in this year's general election, political analysts said.
In the past few years, both government and opposition have also tried
to win the hearts of One Nation supporters by taking a tough stand on
illegal immigrants, and in Labor's case, by toning down support for
Aborigines.
Some analysts, like the Australian Defence Force Academy's Malcolm
Mackerras, think the One Nation threat is overblown.
"Sure they will do better than expected," Mackerras said. "But that
doesn't mean much. They will not win seats in either (state) parliament
(in Queensland or Western Australia)." |
