There’s a reason people are voting One Nation. Those who sneer at them are missing the larger picture

May 28, 2026 — 3:00am

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Blow it up. It’s not working, just blow the whole damn thing up. That’s the nihilistic attitude of at least one in four Australians towards conventional politics. The upswell in support for One Nation and Pauline Hanson, around whom the party was constructed way back in 1997, is a remarkable phenomenon that threatens to destroy the two-sided political model that has endured since the early years after federation.

Given how swiftly and steadily the backing for Hanson has risen, how long will it be before that one in four number becomes one in three? In a large-scale Redbridge poll, One Nation is on 28 per cent, just three points short of the ALP’s 31 per cent and well ahead of the Coalition on 21 per cent. The Essential poll this week has One Nation trailing the government by a single percentage point. But look past the polls to actual voting behaviour. At the South Australian state election, One Nation attracted 23 per cent. It then won the Farrer byelection with a primary vote of 39.5 per cent.

This is real, and if Anthony Albanese believes he’s already climbed the biggest mountains of his career by leading the ALP to election victories in 2022 and last year, he should think again. The fight he is in now will be the one that defines his legacy. At stake is whether the political system continues to be seen by the bulk of Australians as the instrument through which the nation confronts and solves its problems or becomes mostly a venue for protest, curdled nostalgia and........

© WA Today