Don’t say it’s a protest vote’: Pauline Hanson on One Nation’s resurgence

Paul Sakkal· Host0:00

[gentle music] I'm Paul Sekul, and you're listening to a bonus episode of Inside Politics from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. The debate on the rise of Pauline Hanson is shifting rapidly. For the first time this week, One Nation's primary vote rose above the Labor Party's. A conversation that is focused on One Nation and the coalition swap in preferences has given way to more profound questions about the long-term configuration on the right flank of Australian politics. But Hanson has yet to face the full force of scrutiny on her policies, her positions on race relations, and whether her party really is a credible governing outfit. Hanson joined us in Canberra on Wednesday. Pauline Hanson, thank you for joining us.

Pauline Hanson· Guest0:41

My pleasure. Thank you.

Paul Sakkal· Host0:42

We'll get to some tougher questions later on, I promise, for those who think this is a softball intro, but we saw each other on Tuesday night at the pub in Canberra, and in the period, or we didn't actually meet each other, we just ran into each other at the front bar.

Pauline Hanson· Guest0:56

Hmm.

Paul Sakkal· Host0:57

And in that short period from walking to the front bar to the table or to the exit that you were leaving to, I saw about four people stop to take selfies with you, right in the center of Canberra, so not really your hotspot. And it strikes me that you're riding this wave of anti-establishment sentiment at the moment, where the normal rules don't quite apply to you. You're being treated differently to all the rest of the political class. You recently called a journalist a nasty bitch. You made very controversial comments about Muslim Australians. You attend only 10% of Senate estimates, so people can argue you're not doing your job properly. But you're the most popular