A little more than two years out from the next federal election, there is something of a realignment going on across the colour-coded hallways of Parliament House.

After a torrid nine months of post-election hell for the Liberals and the Nationals, Angus Taylor has taken over the reins of the Coalition. A new opposition energy, especially on the economy, is already evident.

Anthony Albanese, still riding high from his 2025 re-election victory, this week overtook John Curtin and Scott Morrison on time in office, and became the longest-serving Australian prime minister since John Howard.

But One Nation, with a primary vote as high as 26% in some recent national opinion polls, is the main disrupting force in national politics today. Pauline Hanson, due to notch up 30 years on the political scene next month, is demanding her party be taken seriously as a mainstream concern.

Sign up: AU Breaking News email

Even if this latest surge in support turns out to be fleeting, Hanson’s policies and lowest-common-denominator politics are distorting the debate.

The results aren’t pretty.

In a Donald Trump-like way, the worst thing Hanson says can crowd out the political debate for days. Like Trump, she’s shameless and interprets even mildly critical questioning as a personal attack.

This week Hanson made a fresh round of racist comments about Australia’s Islamic community. Appearing on Sky News, she said, “You say ‘oh well there’s good Muslims out there’, well I’m sorry how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”

Doing her usual shtick over the next couple of days, she refused to apologise, offering only a mealy mouthed concession to anyone she had offended, provided they did not........

© The Guardian