Treasurer Jim Chalmers has urged progressive voters to stop mocking, scolding and “cancelling” One Nation supporters, warning that dismissing those drawn to the far right risks deepening the divisions it seeks to exploit.

Chalmers used his speech at The Australia Institute’s Bernie Fraser Oration to acknowledge that rapid changes in technology, industry, energy and geopolitics had “shifted the ground under people”.

“It’s made them feel more disconnected from opportunity, even disregarded, mourning a loss of control as change accelerates all around us. And all of this is then fed and fuelled, monetised, politicised, and catastrophised by algorithmic rage bait,” he said.

Chalmers said the challenging times were a test not only for Australian households but also for governments.

“They’re also a test of whether a country’s character falls to the level of its........

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