Joe Hildebrand: Analysis of One Nation’s ghost candidates plan in election

This campaign has had plenty of life in it so far but is it now being haunted by the living dead? Joe Hildebrand asks.

This campaign has had plenty of life in it so far but is it now being haunted by the living dead?

As revealed by this masthead today, One Nation is fielding dozens of “ghost candidates” in seats across the country – people whose names appear on the ballot but who appear to have no official profile.

And so what is the purpose of these otherworldly contestants for public office?

What else could it be: These ghost candidates are there to attract ghost voters.

Of all the demographics that political parties try to go after in an election campaign, none is harder to reach than young men.

Young Aussie males may as well be movie hero Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon.

They do not consume mainstream media, they do not respond to polls and they do not talk about their feelings.

As a Labor insider told me at the outset of the campaign, the party research could tell them what women over 35 were eating for breakfast each day but young men they simply had no idea about. They might as well all be Jason Bourne.

Like Bourne they are effectively a ghost, and like Bourne they seem to be on a mission to stick it to the system.

We know they turned out for Trump in America and in Australia young blue-collar males appear to be drifting towards One Nation.

And so One Nation wants to make sure it has cast its net as far and wide as possible to catch that drift.

So what impact will this have on the actual election result?

One Nation’s relationship with the Coalition is a lot like the Greens’ relationship with the Labor Party. They might not like each other very much but they are united by a common enemy whom they hate even more.

The difference is that Greens preferences are much tighter than One Nation’s. Generally more than 80 per cent flow to Labor, while One Nation votes favour the Coalition by about 60-70 per cent.

That’s why when it emerged Peter Dutton was in trouble midway through the campaign One Nation redid its how to vote cards to put the LNP in a solid second spot in an effort to stem the leakage.

But the main game for One Nation is the Senate, where depending on the final make up it could end up holding the balance of power with other minor parties and independents.

By fielding candidates in almost every lower house seat — 147 out of 150 — it gives itself a national presence that can harvest as many upper house votes as possible.

If that house is haunted by ghost candidates, who cares. All that matters is any candidate gets there.

Originally published as Joe Hildebrand: Analysis of One Nation’s ghost candidates plan in election