Pauline Hanson, a good ol’ Aussie 


It is hardly conceivable to have a politician quite like Pauline Hanson in a country which is said to be “the most successful multicultural society in the world” (Turnbull, n.d.). Australia, “an immigration nation” (Turnbull, n.d.), has seen Hanson disparaging Islam as a disease that needs to be vaccinated and belittling Asians for not assimilating and forming a ghetto instead. 
 

Pauline Hanson's beginnings

Being told at home by her father that politics was a dirty game, Pauline Hanson, a former single mother with four children and an owner of a local fish and chip store proved her father’s words wrong with her political success by becoming a senator representing Queensland as well as the leader of One Nation Party. “You must understand, I was a single woman with four children, running my small business trying to survive; My father, whom I had the utmost respect for, got it wrong” (Hanson, n.d.). 

This 'is' her, a tough Australian single mother that made it all the way to the top, an inspirational story of a total outsider taking on a ‘dirty job’, trying to change it from inside and giving power and voice back to the grassroots. “I am an ordinary Australian who cares about the future of my children, and my fellow Australians” (Hanson, n.d.). 

Hanson’s depiction of her identity and personal values in her message creates an un-political, un-sophisticated image that paved the way for her political discourse.  

Given Hanson’s self-portrayal as an exemplar of an ordinary Aussie, she glorifies her courage to pursue a political career on the cause of defending the future of her fellow men and women. She also praised her novelty, being a female politico who works incredibly hard to raise her kids alone meanwhile contributing to her community. Surely from her message we cannot relate her at all with the usual résumé of a politician or economic elite, born with a silver spoon in their mouth, attending an Ivy League school. In fact, she even made it public of her humble previous life as a fish-and-chip shop owner. 

The heterodoxy of her message lies in the candid-ness and ‘unsophisticated-ness’. First and foremost being a single mother with four children, which is a telling story about her hardship in child-rearing; following her experience of running a small business by herself who tries to provide for her kids.

Altogether the impression that pervades Hanson and her past is nothing but tenacity, everything except privilege. Hence her discourse echoes the notion of message put forward earlier, which is an identity construction tool that aims at generating a desirable image with a carefully crafted biography and a moral profile based on selected issues out of political interests (Lempert & Silverstein, 2012).

The image of a grassroots-born, hardworking single mother is constructed in Hanson’s biography that separates her from the political, economic elites. Thus, Hanson’s depiction of her identity and personal values in her message creates an un-political, un-sophisticated image that aims to pave the way for her success in discursive battle against her political competitors as well as in generating supports among the electorate who shares similar background as hers.   

Us vs Them

The moral foundation that was laid in Hanson’s biography conveys to the public a great sense of concern over the liberty and equality that ‘naturally’ belong to Australians. “My only policy was equality for all Australians” (Hanson. n.d.). The next big question is, who are ‘these’ Australians as a whole that Hanson think their equality is being trampled upon and therefore it is incumbent on her to defend? I shall answer this question by asking this first, who are not ‘these’ Australians. 

“High immigration is only beneficial to multi-nationals, banks and big business seeking a large market while everyday Australians suffer from this massive intake” (Hanson, 2016). Hanson’s first criterion for defending ‘these’ Aussies is by separating the so-called elites from them.

By homogenizing most people who hold leading positions within politics and the economy as a corrupt group, called “the elite” who works against the general will of the people (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017), Hanson managed to claim the moral high ground. Here we see Hanson criticized the elites for their disinterests of ‘average’ Aussies whose rights for employment and wealth seem to be disregarded by legitimatizing immigration. “In response to my call for equality for all Australians, the most noisy criticism came from the fat cats, bureaucrats and the do-gooders. They screamed the loudest because they stand to lose the most - their power, money and position, all funded by ordinary Australian taxpayers” (Hanson, 1996). 

Her discourse is imbued with empathy towards ‘ordinary’ Australians and antagonism towards the rich and powerful. Hanson’s discursive battle against the economic elites reciprocates the moral foundation that pervades in her biography as a self-proclaimed defender of the ordinary Australians. In account with the concept on populism, ‘the people’ as one of the three core components of populistic movement, “it (the common people) vindicates the dignity and knowledge of groups who objectively or subjectively are being excluded from power due to their socioeconomic status. this is the reason why populist leaders often adopt cultural elements that are considered markers of inferiority by the dominant culture” (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017). 

Indeed, at the 1998 Queensland State election since Hanson’s maiden speech came off two years ago, “the geography of the One Nation (ON) vote was positively related to the presence of unskilled workers and workers in either blue-collar or agricultural industry” (Davis & Stimson, 1998); “ON supporters are more likely to be male and in blue-collar or working-class occupations. In addition, older voters (those between 45 and 65) and those living in rural and regional Australia are disproportionately drawn to the party” (Goot, 1998; Bean, 2000; Reynold, 2000). Similarly, “among Queensland's farmers and rural townsfolk, hit hard by economic decline, Mrs Hanson evidently strikes a chord” (The Economist, 1998). 

The grassroots element that is embedded in Hanson’s biography creates recognition amongst her supporters, particularly the marginalized, the unemployed and rural blokes lured into Hanson’s ‘ours versus theirs’ hotbed. As a result, Hanson’s separatistic style of drawing a distinctive line between the economic elite and the ‘suburbanite’ fabricates her persona of a ‘grassroots defender’. This marks a step closer to suit her the title of a populist, which characterized by “some kinds of appeal to 'the people’ and a denunciation of the elite” (Muddle & Kaltwasser, 2017). 

Responding to the ‘threat’ caused by immigrants is in large part of a strategic design to exacerbate the fear of economic insecurity that were already in the minds of many ordinary Aussies.

Will of the people

‘Where there is a will there is a way’ appears to constitute the final criterion for Hanson as the ‘guardian’ of her constituency. “For far too long, ordinary Australians have been kept out of any debates by the major parties. I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished” (Hanson, 1996). Here we have been given the impression that Hanson is generalizing a concern for most Australians that multiculturalism and immigration policy are in large part of a scheme by the cultural, political elite to tip the scale against public interest. Following the telltale sign of Australia being a threatened society by which Hanson gives her warning to her fellow citizens that their land is ‘being swamped by Asians’ whose cult precludes them from assimilation (Hanson, 1996).

Here Hanson’s upheaval of doing away with the immigration policy and multiculturalism echoes the concept of ‘general will’ in populism, referring to “the capacity of the people to join together into a community and legislate to enforce their common interest is realized” (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017). Indeed, Hanson’s speech occurred at a period in which public aversion to immigration was intermittently on the hype in Australia. Following the aftereffect of Hanson’s speech, “It is clear that the 1998 election occurred at a time when around 40 per cent of voters believed that too many immigrants were being allowed into Australia” (Goot, 2000a; Gibson & McAllister & Swenson, 2002) 

Hanson’s denunciation on the swarm of Asians to Australia was, according to her, not motivated by racial prejudice. Rather, responding to the ‘threat’ caused by immigrants is in large part of a strategic design to exacerbate the fear of economic insecurity that was already in the minds of many ordinary Aussies. “Immigration must be halted in the short term so that our dole queues are not added to by unskilled migrants not fluent in the English language. This would be one positive step to rescue many young and older Australians from a predicament that has become a national disgrace and crisis” (Hanson, 1996).

Thus, for Hanson channeling her discourse into racial prejudice is to legitimize the apprehension of wealth redistribution by the advent of Asian immigrants. “While there is some evidence that economic concerns did motivate ON voters, it seems that they did so only when linked to anti-immigrant feelings” (Gibson & McAllister & Swenson 2002).  

References   

Goot, 2000a. More “Relaxed and Comfortable”: Public opinion on immigration under Howard. People and Place vol. 8, pp. 32–49.

Gibson, R., McAllister, I. & Swenson, T. 2002. The politics of race and immigration in Australia: One Nation voting in the 1998 Election .

Hanson, P. 1996. maiden speech delivered to the Senate of the Federal Parliament. 

Hanson, P. 2016. maiden speech delivered to the Senate of the Federal Parliament. 

Hanson, P. n.d. Biography.  

Mudde, C. & Kaltwasser, C. R. 2017. Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Silverstein, M. & Urban, G. 1996. Natural Histories of Discourse. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.

The Economist, 1998, The Hanson factor. 

Turnbull, M. n.d.  Australia’s multicultural statement. Australian Government.