Jacqui Lambie is right about Pauline Hanson. There’s only one way to stop her ascension

October 10, 2026 — 5:00am

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The fire of Jacqui Lambie’s anger at Pauline Hanson has honed a pointed formulation of One Nation’s essence: “Pauline Hanson doesn’t have solutions, she only wants to show you who to blame,” says the independent senator for Tasmania.

Hanson has spent 30 years urging us to blame “the other”. Whatever our gripe, she wants us to get angry at the same people. Asians. Aboriginal people. Muslims. Immigrants.

For the past 12 months, and for the first time, her demonisation of immigrants has found mainstream support. The great bulk of that support has come at the expense of the Liberal Party.

This week, the Liberals entered the contest for her supporters. Angus Taylor delivered an immigration policy. It’s a more responsible rejection of Labor’s immigration policy. It cuts numbers hard but without endorsing Hansonite racism or her vindictive enthusiasm.

Taylor didn’t mention Muslims. So he retains the traditional bipartisan policy of nondiscrimination. He landed on a number for net overseas migration of 100,000 a year for the first couple of years, rising to 160,000. That puts him in between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s promise of 230,000 net overseas migrants a year, a reduction from the current level of about 290,000, and Hanson’s policy of less than zero.

Taylor uttered the all-important phrase that he would bring the immigration program “back under control”. But has this worked politically for the Liberals?

“You can’t underestimate the number of our people jumping at Pauline-shaped shadows,” says a seasoned Liberal campaigner. Hanson has framed the debate; everything else is seen as a response to her.

“The risk,” says Tony Barry, former deputy state director of the Liberal party in Victoria and now with consultancy Redbridge, “is that it’s just a Xerox copy of One Nation – ‘no mate, I’ll have the original, thanks’.”

Worse, the major business organisations have criticised the Liberals’ policy for its restrictiveness. The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others, said that it would impose shortages of labour and impede growth.

So the Liberals pursued One Nation’s advantage in being seen as the party most trusted to deal with........

© The Age