The Nationals are likely doomed if they don't go back into a Coalition. And they are likely doomed if they do.

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Last week I wrote in this space: "The job for [Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese now is to concern himself less with the Coalition (which is doing a good self-demolition job all on its own) and concentrate on reversing the One Nation surge."

Within 48 hours the Coalition had completed that demolition job - far sooner than I thought possible. And still One Nation surges in the polls.

But the Nationals should be more worried than Labor.

The numbers spell profound changes in Australian politics. In the polls since the Bondi shootings last month, One Nation has gone from 6 or 7 per cent to being close to or equal to the vote of what was once the Coalition - each sitting in the low 20s.

We should ask why. It starts with many voters feeling the government is not working for them - because in many cases it isn't. They feel resentful.

One Nation exploits that resentment, not by addressing real issues, but in three other ways: a human fear of difference in language, ethnicity, or religion; a sense that others are exploiting them (multinationals, big mining, big supermarket chains); and a sense that elites are unjustifiably looking down on them, belittling them, and taking away their dignity.

One Nation then presents these voters (especially in rural and regional Australia) with simplistic, blame-shifting solutions so they can nostalgically look at a return to when times were good.

One Nation calls for non-white immigration to be slashed; for an end to net-zero; toughness on crime; free-speech (freedom of bigotry); an end to multi-culturalism; and an end to government waste. All the policies cite idyllic results with no detail as to how to get there.

So, there is no hedging and no recognition of complexity. So, despite the convoluted, inarticulate, non-sequitur-laden speech of One Nation leaders, these policies emerge with astounding clarity.

In this environment, the Nationals' position is precarious.

If the Liberal-Nationals split continues, the single Liberal-National Party in Queensland might........

© Canberra Times