So much of our politics is a distraction. And deliberately so. Fake fights over nuclear – no one in mainstream politics actually believes nuclear would ever happen, but both Labor and the Coalition are happy to fight over it, because it gives both a point of difference in an increasingly political monoculture.

Pauline Hanson doing a podcast with a documented fascist and criminal might make the news, and there will be titters at her addressing an almost empty room at the Liz Truss-led CPAC UK love-in.

But what is not really examined is that Hanson’s (and Bridget McKenzie’s, and Barnaby Joyce’s) attendance at these conservative events – including ARC, or the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, as well as CPAC – gives them even more access to the billionaire donors backing US President Donald Trump and those cheering on the backsliding of democratic nations across the Western world.

It doesn’t matter who Hanson was speaking to in the room – that’s the distraction. It matters who she was speaking to behind closed doors.

Angus Taylor takes selfies with Dave Hughes to be deliberately provocative (and if there is a bad political decision to make, Taylor will dive in head first) and the Prime Minister’s Office will make sure every journalist knows just how much Anthony Albanese “led” on AI, while not actually announcing much more than a commitment to keep looking at it.

Distraction though, works. And well. Cuts to media organisations mean sushi train........

© The New Daily