One Nation (Australia)

Not to be confused with the One Nation program of infrastructure works carried out from 1991 to 1996 by the Keating Labor Government.
One Nation Party
Leader Pauline Hanson
Party President Jim Savage
Founded 11 April 1997
Ideology Nationalism
Protectionism
Anti-Immigration
Conservatism
Political position Far-right
Website
www.onenation.com.au
Politics of Australia
Political parties
Elections

One Nation is a far right[1] political party in Australia formed by Pauline Hanson in 1997, following her election as an independent after she was disendorsed as the preselected Liberal Party candidate for the Australian House of Representatives. At the 1998 state election the party gained more than 22% of the vote in Queensland's unicameral legislative assembly, winning 11 of the 89 seats. Federally, the party peaked at the 1998 election achieving 9% of the nationwide vote, electing one Senator in Queensland. The party has never approached such voter success again, and while it nominally still exists it attracts a negligible percentage of the vote.

Overview

One Nation was formed in 1997 by Pauline Hanson, David Oldfield and David Ettridge. Hanson, was an endorsed Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Oxley, Queensland at the 1996 federal election, but was disendorsed by the party shortly before the elections due to comments she made to a local newspaper in Ipswich, Queensland opposing "race-based welfare". Oldfield, a councillor on Manly Council in suburban Sydney and at one time an employee of Liberal minister Tony Abbott, was the organisational architect of the new party. He and Ettridge were seen as the brains behind Hanson's populist image.

The name "One Nation" was chosen to signify belief in national unity, in contrast to a perceived increasing division in Australian society allegedly caused by government policies favouring immigrants and indigenous Australians. The term One Nation was last used in Australian political life to describe a tax reform package by the Labor government of Paul Keating, whose urban-based, Asia-centric, free-market, and pro-affirmative action policies were representative of what One Nation voters were opposing.

Arguing that the other parties to be out of touch with mainstream Australia, One Nation ran on a broadly populist and protectionist platform. It promised to drastically reduce immigration and to abolish "divisive and discriminatory policies ... attached to Aboriginal and multicultural affairs." Condemning multiculturalism as a "threat to the very basis of the Australian culture, identity and shared values", One Nation rallied against government immigration and multicultural policies which, it argued, were leading to "the Asianisation of Australia."[2] The party also denounced economic rationalism and globalisation, reflecting working-class dissatisfaction with the neo-liberal economic policies embraced by the major parties. Adopting strong protectionist policies, One Nation advocated the restoration of import tariffs, a revival of Australia's manufacturing industry, and an increase in support for small business and the rural sector.[3]

One Nation became subject to a political campaign by Abbott, who established a trust fund called "Australians for Honest Politics Trust" to help bankroll civil court cases against the Party (see Tony Abbott#Action against the One Nation party). He was also accused of offering funds to One Nation dissident Terry Sharples to support his court battle against the party. Abbott conceded that the political threat One Nation posed to the Howard Government was "a very big factor" in his decision to pursue the legal attack, but he also claimed to be acting "in Australia's national interest".

The party's greatest appeal was in country areas of New South Wales and Queensland, the traditional heartlands of the junior partner in the non-Labor Coalition, the National Party. Indeed, for much of 1997 and 1998, it appeared that One Nation would pass the Nationals.

The party has been involved in Glenn Druery's Minor Party Alliance.[4][5]

Electoral performance

One Nation achieved its peak of support in the 1998 Queensland state election, at which the party won 22.7% of the vote. In terms of first-preference votes, One Nation received more than either the Liberals or Nationals; indeed, its vote share was high enough to render any attempt to calculate a two-party preferred vote meaningless. However, since One Nation's vote was spread out across the state, this was only good enough for fourth place in the legislature behind Labor, the Liberals and Nationals, with 11 of the 89 seats. This was still enough to deny Labor a majority, as Liberal preferences resulted in One Nation picking up seven seats that would have otherwise gone Labor. Subsequently, the One Nation contingent in the Queensland Parliament split, with dissident members forming the rival City-Country Alliance in late 1999.[6]

At the 1998 federal election, Hanson contested the new seat of Blair after a redistribution effectively split Oxley in half. Hanson lost to Liberal candidate Cameron Thompson, and the One Nation candidate in Oxley lost the seat to ALP candidate Bernie Ripoll, but One Nation candidate Heather Hill was elected as a senator for Queensland. Hill's eligibility to sit as a senator was successfully challenged under the Australian Constitution on the basis that she had failed to renounce her childhood British citizenship, despite being a naturalised Australian citizen. The seat subsequently went to the party's Len Harris following a recount. At the 1999 New South Wales election, David Oldfield was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council.

In the 2001 Queensland state election, One Nation won three seats and 8.69% of the primary vote. The City-Country Alliance lost all of its seats, and faded into irrelevance soon afterward.

At the 2001 state election in Western Australia, One Nation won three seats in the state's Legislative Council. One Nation did not win any seats in state elections in Victoria, South Australia or Tasmania in the following year.

At the 2001 federal election, the party's vote fell from 9% to 5.5%. Hanson failed in her bid to win a Senate seat from Queensland, despite polling a strong 10% of the primary vote. voters of most other parties were unwilling to favourably preference One Nation, under Australia's single transferable vote voting system. Hanson also failed to win a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council at the 2003 state election, where she ran as an independent, with the support of the One Nation party. She polled less than 2% of the vote and withdrew from the party's leadership.

Internal disputes and decline

Since the 1998 peak, One Nation has been plagued by internal divisions and has split several times. Lawsuits from ex-members forced Hanson to repay approximately A$500,000 of public funding won at the 1998 Queensland election amid claims that the party was fraudulently registered. The suits alleged that the party was undemocratically constituted in order to concentrate all power in the hands of three rulers—Hanson, Ettridge and Oldfield (in particular Oldfield)—and that it technically had only two members: Ettridge and Hanson.

In October 2000, Hanson expelled Oldfield from the party. Oldfield had been accused of abusing his authority, usurping power, and setting up alternative political parties under his control. His expulsion created even more instability in a party which was constantly embroiled in scandal and internal strife. Oldfield engineered a split within the party, thereby creating One Nation NSW, in 2001. The new party took advantage of electoral party registration laws to register itself as a political party under the 'One Nation' name with the NSW electoral commission, and achieved registration in April 2002. This meant that the original One Nation party was unable to gain registration for NSW elections, and that any candidates which that party chose to represent them at state elections could not use the party name. Consequently, the original One Nation could only contest Federal elections in NSW under the 'One Nation' banner, whilst the Oldfield group could present itself as 'One Nation' only at state elections.

At the 2004 Queensland election, One Nation polled less than 5% of the vote and its sole elected representative, Rosa Lee Long, acted as an independent. One Nation attempted to defend its Queensland Senate seat at the 2004 federal election, but lost it (effectively to the National Party). Len Harris's Senate term expired on 30 June 2005.

On 8 February 2005, One Nation lost federal party status but re-registered in time for the 2007 Australian federal election. It still had state parties in Queensland and New South Wales. Subsequently, it created another state party in Western Australia. In the February 2005 Western Australian election, the One Nation vote collapsed.

In the 2006 South Australian state election, six One Nation candidates stood for the lower house. Their highest levels of the primary vote was 4.1% in the district of Hammond and 2.7% in Goyder, with the other four hovering around 1%. They attracted 0.8% (7559 votes) of the upper house vote. One Nation consequently won no seats in that election.

In the 2006 Queensland state election, the party contested four of 89 seats, and its vote collapsed. It suffered a swing of 4.3% to be left with just 0.6% of the vote. Its only remaining seat in the state (and country), Tablelands, was retained with an increased majority by Rosa Lee Long.[7] Tablelands was abolished prior to the 2009 Queensland state election, with Lee Long failing to win the seat of Dalrymple.

In the 2012 Queensland state election the party unsuccessfully contested 6 seats. The party received only 2,525 first preference votes (representing 0.1 of a percent of the total cast) across the state.[8]

Impact

During its brief period of popularity, One Nation had a major impact on Australian politics. The primary effect at both state and federal levels was to split the conservative vote and threaten the National Party's support base.[6] The appeal of its policies to the National Party's constituency put great pressure on that party. The rapid rise of the party revealed a substantial minority of discontented voters dissatisfied with the major parties.

In the prologue to her autobiography Untamed and Unashamed, Hanson cites the Howard government's adoption of her policies as an attempt to win back One Nation voters to the Liberal and National parties, stating "the very same policies I advocated back then ... are being advocated today by the federal government".[9]

2013 controversy

In August 2013, a One Nation candidate in the federal election for the seat of Rankin, Stephanie Banister, gave an interview to Seven News[10] in which she referred to Islam as a country, claimed that Jews follow Jesus, confused the Quran with the Islamic term for sin, i.e. haram, and made numerous incorrect statements about halal and kashrut (Muslim and Jewish dietary laws).[11] The interview attracted derision internationally in the media, with commentators comparing her to Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate.[12][13][14][15] Banister stated 'Unfortunately, they've completely twisted all my words and made me out to be a stand-up criminal and a stupid moron' and that she had been misrepresented, with numerous corrections having been edited out by Fairfax Media.[12] Banister withdrew from the election shortly afterward.[16]

Hanson's return as leader

Hanson returned to One Nation as leader in November 2014.[17] She contested Lockyer for the party at the 2015 Queensland state election, falling 184 votes short of defeating sitting LNP member Ian Rickuss.[18]

Election results

Election Chamber %

of vote

 Seats

won

Queensland state election

June 1998

 Legislative Assembly 22.7% 11
Australian federal election

October 1998

 House of Representatives 8.4%
Senate 9% 1
New South Wales state election

March 1999

 Legislative Assembly 7.5%
Legislative Council 6.3% 1
Victoria state election

September 1999

 Legislative Assembly 0.3%
Legislative Council n.a
Western Australia state election

February 2001

 Legislative Assembly 9.6%
Legislative Council 9.9% 3
Queensland state election

February 2001

 Legislative Assembly 8.7% 3
Northern Territory state election

August 2001

 Legislative Assembly 1.3%
Australian federal election

November 2001

 House of Representatives 4.3%
Senate 5.5%
South Australia state election

February 2002

 House of Assembly 2.4%
Legislative Council 1.8%
Queensland state election

February 2004

 Legislative Assembly 4.9% 1
Australian federal election

October 2004

 House of Representatives 1.2%
Senate 1.7%
Western Australia state election

February 2005

 Legislative Assembly 1.6%
Legislative Council 1.6%
South Australia state election

March 2006

 House of Assembly 0.3%
Legislative Council 0.8%
Queensland state election

September 2006

 Legislative Assembly 0.6% 1
Australian federal election

November 2007

 House of Representatives 0.3%
Senate 0.4%
Western Australia state election

September 2008

 Legislative Assembly n.a
Legislative Council 0.6%
Queensland state election

March 2009

 Legislative Assembly 0.4%
South Australia state election

March 2010

 House of Assembly n.a
Legislative Council 0.5%
Australian federal election

August 2010

 House of Representatives 0.2%
Senate 0.6%

Members of Parliament

Federal

New South Wales

Queensland

Western Australia

Notes

See also


References

  1. ↑ "Australia's Pauline Hanson returns to lead One Nation".
  2. ↑ One Nation's Immigration, Population and Social Cohesion Policy 1998
  3. ↑ Charlton, P. 1998. Full Circle. The Courier-Mail, 13 June 1998.
  4. ↑ Trevor Bormann (5 September 2013). "Bitter dispute erupts over Senate preferences in Queensland". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  5. ↑ Alicia Wood (5 September 2014). "Alliance of micro parties boosts odds for likes of One Nation or Shooters and Fishers gaining Senate spot through preferences". The Daily Telegraph (News Limited). Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Wanna, John (2003). "Queensland". In Moon, Campbell; Sharman, Jeremy. Australian Politics and Government: The Commonwealth, the States and Territories. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 92. ISBN 0521825075. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  7. ↑ 2006 Queensland Election. Electorate Results. Election Results. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  8. ↑ "2012 State General Election – Election Summary". Electoral Commission Queensland. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Hanson, Pauline. Untamed and Unashamed, JoJo Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9802836-2-4
  10. ↑ Australia's Sarah Palin. Seven News. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Stephanie Banister Channel Seven Interview, One Nation Candidate Interview". The Age (Melbourne).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Williams, Rob (8 August 2013). "Australian ultra-nationalist politician Stephanie Banister in car crash immigration TV interview". The Independent (London).
  13. ↑ Bridie Jabour (8 August 2013). One Nation candidate Stephanie Banister puts Islam on the map. theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Is this Australia's answer to Sarah Palin? Candidate believes Islam is a country and gets halal mixed up with a term that means sinful". Daily Mail (London).
  15. ↑ Stuart, Hunter (8 August 2013). "WATCH: Australia's Version Of Sarah Palin?". Huffington Post.
  16. ↑ Ross, Monique. "One Nation candidate Stephanie Banister quits election race after Islam gaffe". ABC News, 15 August 2013. (accessed 26 August 2013)
  17. ↑ Agius, Kym (23 November 2014). "Pauline Hanson returns to lead One Nation, plans to contest Queensland election". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  18. ↑ Killoran, Matthew (13 February 2015). "Pauline Hanson misses out on seat of Lockyer after bid for recount rejected". Courier-Mail.

Further reading

External links