Opinion: Labor Government rushes to regions where voters embracing One Nation

FIREBRAND Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson has been seen little and said even less when it comes to state politics yet she already has the major political parties dancing to her tune.

Senator Pauline Hanson at the swearing in ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

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WITH little effort, Pauline Hanson has made the major political parties dance to her tune.

The firebrand Queensland Senator has been seen little and said even less when it comes to state politics.

Yet still, senior state MPs this week rushed to the regions where voters are turning off the traditional parties and tuning into Hanson’s message of protectionism.

Former premier Campbell Newman raised the temperature of the turmoil that has enveloped Labor and the LNP by publicly pondering that the next Queensland government may have to partner with One Nation.

Then Newman met with the Right-wing outfit and suggested ministerial leather would be the price the major parties would have to pay to seal a deal.

While selling remote-control sprinklers was Newman’s aim after the 2015 election loss, he now seems intent to rain down pain on the party he once led.

Resorting to such commentary says much about the relevance Newman holds within the LNP and his fractured relationship with senior figures.

Yet, as unwelcome as his public presence might be in the LNP, Newman’s sentiment is spot on.

The One Nation juggernaut is back with vengeance. And the side that adapts to the issues central to this surge – economic disconnection and alienation from the political process – will win the next election.

Playing on the minds of the major parties will be that eight of the 11 seats Hanson won
at the 1998 election are held by margins easily attainable in a volatile environment.

They’re split four each between Labor and the LNP.

And seven of the eight are in regional areas where unemployment is taking a toll.

So, after a fortnight of poking their fingers at each other in Parliament, politicians of both persuasions packed their travel bags and flew to the regions.

Acting Premier Jackie Trad hit Townsville and Cairns to talk infrastructure. State Development Minister Anthony Lynham must have borrowed Santa’s sled given he spruiked how “Christmas had come early” in areas getting Royalties for the Region cash. And the entire Cabinet met yesterday to talk about the Government’s infrastructure pipeline after the constipation it suffered last financial year left almost $2 billion unspent.

LNP Leader Tim Nicholls hit the regions also, lamented about job losses and then launched a Wi-Fi policy.

Meanwhile, Hanson sat back and poked fun at Federal Labor for following her lead about local jobs and relished in the rise of US president-elect Donald Trump.

Just imagine One Nation’s impact when Hanson actually turns her attention to state politics.

Steven Wardill is The Courier-Mail’s state political editor