[EM] Australia's Pauline Hanson Eyes New Target in Political Turmoil

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

This is one of the few news stories that I have ever seen that mentioned the 
effects of the method being used.
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Australia's Pauline Hanson Eyes New Target in Political Turmoil
  
Canberra, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Pauline Hanson, the former owner of a 
fish-and-chip shop who leads Australia's anti-Asian One Nation Party, makes a 
habit of proving so-called experts wrong. 

Newspaper editors, politicians, business leaders and academics have 
continually written off Hanson -- first as a political never-would-be and 
then a political has-been. Each time, the fiery redhead has proved them 
wrong. 

She did it again last Saturday, bursting out of political ruin -- which had 
seen her fined A$500,000 ($267,000) and her party declared illegal -- to 
engineer the overthrow of the Western Australian state conservative 
government led by Premier Richard Court. 

And she hopes to do it again this Saturday on the other side of the nation in 
Queensland state. Her target this time is two- term Labor Premier Peter 
Beattie. 

``The general feeling is that people feel forgotten, that government and 
oppositions are more concerned about boat people and are actually providing 
more for them than for our own people,'' Hanson, 46, declared this week as 
she hit the election trail in her home state. 

While the major parties concentrate on responsible fiscal management and 
educating Australians on-line, Hanson has released policies on turning back 
refugee boats, the death penalty, letting parents hit their children as 
punishment and lowering the IQ level for entry to the nation's police forces 
to bolster cops on the beat. 

Bright Spark 

Her policies are popular with the 10 to 20 percent of Australians who don't 
want to vote for the major parties anymore. 

``What I am trying to do is give the Australian people a voice and true 
representation,'' Hanson said. ``A lot of Australians say to me, `Pauline, 
you are only saying what we have been thinking but you get up and have the 
guts to say it'.'' 

One week ago, Hanson couldn't buy a spot on Australian television. Now, the 
media can't get enough of her in her bright- colored, low-cut frocks and 
plastic sandals. She has dominated evening TV news bulletins and newspaper 
front pages this week. 

``I might dress differently. I like bright colors, I am a bright and happy 
person and I like to dress feminine,'' said Hanson, who fewer than 10 years 
ago was running a fish-and-chips shop. 

The contrast to Liberal party Prime Minister John Howard couldn't be starker. 
Howard looks like a worried man. 

Suicide and Desertion 

Howard, 61, has tried to convince the nation that One Nation's success in 
Western Australia was a fluke anti-state government protest. One Nation 
received 10 percent of the vote in the election and 20 percent in rural areas 
-- traditionally the conservatives' stronghold. 

The federal government thought it could forget about Hanson and her pesky 
party drawing conservative voters into its fold. The woman didn't even 
understand the word `xenophobia' when asked by a reporter in a 1998 TV 
interview about her anti-Asian policies. 

In its halcyon days in Queensland in the late 90s, 11 members were elected to 
the state parliament. Six months later none remained under the One Nation 
banner. One quit and committed suicide, four deserted to become independents 
and six formed the new City Country Alliance (CCA) party. 

One Nation was deregistered because it was found to be fraudulently 
registered for the 1998 election. Hanson was then fined because she signed 
the registration papers, and the conservatives breathed a collective sigh of 
relief. Her fine has since been paid by supporters, saving Hanson from 
bankruptcy. 

Romance and Bankruptcy 

The media turned on Hanson, and the woman more at home in front of a deep 
fryer than a camera faded from public view. 

Still, neither suicide, allegations of romantic liaisons, the threat of 
bankruptcy and even her party being deregistered have stopped Hanson. 

``Like Lazarus with a triple bypass,'' in the words of a former prime 
minister, she rose on the weekend and now she has her heart set on Beattie, 
then on Howard, who must call a federal election by November. 

A poll published in the Sunday Mail newspaper in the Queensland capital of 
Brisbane showed Labor ahead with 39 percent over the coalition's 30 percent. 

It showed 20 percent of people in Queensland state planned to vote for One 
Nation. Labor holds 45 seats in parliament, the coalition 32, the City 
Country Alliance has six and there are six independents. 

The renaissance of One Nation is accompanied by a new electoral weapon that 
is shrewd and simple -- a message that voters should put sitting members last 
on ballot papers. 

Election analyst Malcolm Mackerras told The Australian newspaper that if the 
weapon had been applied to the 1998 federal election, Labor's Kim Beazley, 
not Howard, would be Prime Minister. 

An Eye for Fashion 

Australia's proportional electoral system allows people to number parties in 
order of preference on the ballot paper. The preferences are distributed, 
unlike first-past-the-post systems, to determine the winner. 

Some analysts believe Queenslanders have had enough of One Nation, its 
support won't be enough to win a seat and its preferences will not oust the 
Labor Government, which holds power by one seat. 

``One Nation preferences will, at best, help maintain the status quo,'' said 
Paul Reynolds, a professor at Queensland University. 

Howard and Beazley will contest a federal election later this year. They will 
be watching this weekend to see whether the anti- government vote in Western 
Australia was just that or a protest against mainstream parties. The 
Coalition holds 80 seats in federal parliament, Labor 67 and there is one 
independent. 

Both leaders probably also hope Hanson pursues her latest dream of becoming a 
fashion designer before the national poll. 

Feb/13/2001 19:53 ET