The message was clear. It was from a recent migrant from South Africa who was married to a recent migrant from Bosnia.

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At a round-table birthday party discussion, the subject of Pauline Hanson's National Press Club speech came up. The migrant said she did not feel qualified to comment but mentioned a hospital visit with her child which cost nothing; the lack of violence; the abundance of good food at a reasonable price; and how she and her husband were on track to buy a house. In short, she wondered: "What are you whingeing about?"

It was a good question to ask Australia's Whinger in Chief, Pauline Hanson.

We know what she is whingeing about, or more correctly what she is identifying as the main whinges of the people she hopes will vote for her.

That whinge is fairly straightforward: outsiders will come and take away the good things we have and make things worse for us. The fear goes back as far as when Homo sapiens first came out of Africa. Bands of humans came together for the purpose of ensuring outsiders did not come and take the things that made life good for them, especially habitat or land.

As human societies became more sophisticated the things that made life good became more than just land. They included infrastructure and services. So even in a fairly non-violent society the threat of the loss of good things in life remained real.

And the Whinger in Chief preys brilliantly upon this powerful human concern. It works because it has some basis in reality. Population pressure has long been a cause of environmental and economic degradation and even extinction.

Every slight inconvenience or woe in what is generally a pretty good society and economy is sheeted home to the outsiders coming in and taking what we have. And it is not just material things but also spiritual and emotional things like a sense of belonging and a sense of permanence.

And if the Whinger in Chief can blow these things out of proportion and present herself as the only person with the wherewithal to prevent this potential economic and emotional loss to enough voters, her party will win a lot of seats at the next election - enough to end the 80-year,........

© Canberra Times