We’re witnessing a hard right populist revolt. There’s a way Albanese can stop it turning ugly

May 13, 2026 — 5:00am

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Just a few weeks ago it seemed the global far right had peaked. Viktor Orban had just been electorally smashed in Hungary and the Iran War disaster had made President Donald Trump a lame duck. Vladimir Putin was even starting to lose in Ukraine. How quickly things turn around. In the space of just three days, from Thursday to Saturday, the international populist revolt came thundering back in the form of Nigel Farage’s Reform Party and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. The hard right populist revolt is Australia’s problem now. How should our democracy respond?

So far there have been two dominant approaches.

The first – the strategy of Liberal leader Angus Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan – is to abandon the centre and follow One Nation rightward to poach its voters, or at least staunch the bleeding. If the more than 30 percentage point swing against the Liberals on Saturday is any guide, it’s not working. The British Tories tried something similar under a succession of failed leaders and it didn’t work there either. So far all it has achieved is what many moderate Liberals warned it would: legitimise voting for Hansonite extremism and push the Coalition parties into third or fourth place.

The second strategy, which dominates the progressive side, is for Labor to follow the Greens........

© The Age