One Nation is thriving despite the abhorrent stunts

Senator Pauline Hanson has habitually relied on being a joke to sustain her career as a populist politician. Her latest joke was taking the wrong cosplay costume from her Senate office wardrobe and wearing a burqa into the chamber, instead of a KKK robe and hood.

Either garb would have done. Courting the publicity that follows her stunts is her main game. She outrages most, amuses some and reflects the feelings of a few – but that group is growing.

Hanson’s One Nation received 6.4 per cent of first preference votes at the federal election, yet a scant seven months later, The Australian Financial Review/ Redbridge/Accent Research poll showed the party had surged to a record 18 per cent. The most recent Resolve Political Monitor, published in the Herald in September, had it at 12 per cent – the first time it hit double figures.

Populist politicians like Hanson, Bob Katter, Mark Latham and Barnaby Joyce – who appears One Nation-bound after resigning from the National Party on Thursday – portray themselves as the voice of ordinary people who rage against elites. But the one constant is how little they have achieved for their electorates and constituents.

Whoever they claim to represent, the reality is risible and/or reprehensible: whether it’s exhorting people to take part in March for Australia rallies protesting against immigration intakes; calling for the slaughter of crocodiles; baiting LGBT advocates; or lying down on a Canberra footpath after a drinking session at parliament, the resultant publicity on news programs and TikTok generates recognition among voters who prefer celebrity to policy when ticking preference boxes.