One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has rejected claims that her party’s victory at the Secret Harbour by-election was a danger to Australia.
At the Aug. 29 by-election, One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen defeated Labor’s Georgia Tree 57 percent to 43 percent on a two-candidate-preferred basis.
Secret Harbour was previously considered a safe Labor seat, which held it for 37 years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers reacted strongly to the result at Queensland Labor’s state conference on Aug. 30.
Albanese claimed “hard-right populists” were on the march across the world, adding that, “We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history. And we will defeat them.”
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The prime minister also claimed “parties like One Nation” have no serious answers to Australia’s problems.
“They think Australians are lazy and overpaid. That people working from home are bludging. That domestic violence is sometimes a woman’s fault. That we should—somehow—become a monoculture,” he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, speaking at the same conference, said One Nation posed a “dangerous threat” to Australian politics.
Hanson Challenges Remarks by Albanese and Chalmers
In response, Hanson challenged their comments a day later, saying the attacks from Albanese and Chalmers had become “increasingly desperate.”
“No matter how worried Jim and Albanese are about losing their jobs, telling Australians that their democratically elected opponents are ‘dangerous’ and a ‘threat to our country’ invites people to treat them as a threat.
“Words have consequences. That is how political violence is incited. Anthony Albanese says we need to turn down the heat and violent rhetoric in our political discourse. Meanwhile, he and his Treasurer are pouring petrol all over it.”
She said Australians were entitled to vote for One Nation without being told by the treasurer and the prime minister that their democratic choice is a danger to the nation.
More Reaction from Labor
Discussing the result on Aug. 31, Labor Assistant Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said voters considering One Nation would not find answers to cost-of-living issues.
“I know that people are looking at One Nation. We would say that they don’t offer the solutions that people are seeking, particularly around cost of living when One Nation’s voting record in the federal parliament is to vote against improving rights for workers and ensuring that they take home more money in their pay packets,” he said on ABC Radio.
Meanwhile, Environment Minister Murray Watt said the Labor Party should be careful not to “read too much” into the state by-election.
Barnaby Joyce Says Result ‘Humbling’
On the flip side, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce described the Secret Harbour result as “incredibly humbling” and “obviously decisive.”
“It’s just more that if people are giving us a chance, and if we respect it and don’t get carried away with it, then that’s how you deal with it,” he told ABC Radio.
Joyce said voters in the mining state saw Herdegen as “a small businessperson, a person who they could look at them and see a reflection of themselves.”
