Era of discontent upon us, warns Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

Queensland leader warns the re-emergence of One Nation is making the state’s foreign trading partners nervous.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fears an ‘era of discontent’ is upon us, and the rebirth of One Nation has foreign trading partners concerned. Picture: Darren England

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’s battling the same “era of discontent” that drove Brexit in Britain and Donald Trump’s election as US ­president.

In an interview with The Australian, Ms Palaszczuk warned the re-emergence of One Nation already is making Queensland’s foreign trading partners nervous.

She also committed to taking Labor’s planned changes to vegetation management to the next election.

Analysis by The Australian reveals One Nation hot spots in several state Labor-held regional areas, such as Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg. Pauline Hanson’s resurgent party now has one MP in state parliament, after the LNP’s Steve Dickson defected to sit on the crossbench. A recent Galaxy poll suggests One Nation could take 23 per cent of the primary vote in the state, slightly above its result in 1998 when it took 11 seats.

“Let’s go back with what happened with Brexit, with the rise of Donald Trump in the US, and what is not unique to Queensland but what is happening across the nation; what I’ve termed to be an era of discontent,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“Fuelled by a technological revolution which has caused the displacement of jobs which people have known for many years … some of them have been high-­paying, they’ve been long-term jobs.”

“Suddenly, with the advancement and disruption of technology, some of those jobs have gone, which is why it’s very important to diversify the economy.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the government was trying to boost the tourism industry by attracting foreign airlines to run direct flights to Queensland, while the agriculture sector was celebrating an export boom.

“There are huge market opportunities in India, Korea, Japan and China,” she said. But she warned One Nation’s rise could turn off the state’s Asian trading partners.

“There are a lot of companies that have told me that put a negative impact on their investments,” Ms Palaszczuk said, but refused to give names of companies or nominate specific industries that are concerned.

“I’ve met them on trade missions, I’ve met them when they’ve come into my office and I want to create the right environment to encourage more investment in this state.”

The Premier said she knew there was anger and resentment in Queensland’s regions, while the state had not just a “two-speed economy, we probably have three or four”. Asked whether she was confident her government was doing enough to address potential One Nation voters’ discontent, Ms Palaszczuk said, “of course we can always do more”.

She confirmed the party would push ahead with a tightening of tree-clearing restrictions at the next election, a policy course that sets Labor on a collision course with One Nation.

Ms Palaszczuk — whose father, Henry Palaszczuk, was a long-term Queensland MP — emphasised her working-class roots and her family history, ­telling The Australian her grandfather was a boilermaker and her grandmother a seamstress. In parliament, Labor has mocked Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls — who represents the affluent inner-city electorate of Clayfield — for staging picture opportunities to push a perception of him as an everyman.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie — who led the state in 1998 when One Nation won 11 seats in the 89-seat parliament — said he had embarked on trade missions to Hong Kong, Japan, China and Malaysia after that election to allay foreigners’ fears about One Nation.

“We went out and sold a really positive message about being multicultural,” Mr Beattie said. “Whenever we went overseas we were always asked about it (One Nation).”