It was mid-January when Anthony Albanese publicly admitted his 'worry' about the rise of One Nation. The prime minister's concern was not the political risk to himself or to Labor but rather the threat Pauline Hanson posed to the stability of Australia's two-party system. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
'I'm a believer in mainstream politics and that the parties of government, it's important. [It has] served this country pretty well,' Albanese said in an interview on Kiis FM, after a January newspoll showed One Nation ahead of the Coalition for the first time.
Five months on, the One Nation threat is also a reality Labor must deal with, after several national opinion polls ranked Hanson's rightwing populist party the most popular in the country.
One Nation this week launched a dedicated fundraising drive to 'fire the liar' and Hanson has declared Labor-held seats are firmly on the party's radar. The party claimed to have collected more than $2m in donations this week alone, off the back of broken promises in the federal budget.
Albanese has acknowledged reforms to negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts were in part designed to counter One Nation and the myriad frustrations driving voters to embrace rightwing populism.
Labor and its trade union allies have also shifted the focus of their rhetorical attacks, targeting Hanson as though she – rather than Angus Taylor – is the opposition leader. For now, none of it appears to be working, leaving some insiders to question what – if anything – will.
Each morning Labor MPs are provided 'talking points' to align their messaging on the important issues of the day. On Wednesday, a new topic was added to the list: One Nation. The suggested lines were entirely consistent with the language Albanese has used in the past week, including openly conceding that Australians are frustrated with an economy that 'isn't working for them'. But the fact that the guidance has been issued at all speaks to an acceptance that One Nation is a problem that must be confronted.
Some Labor MPs and advisers are concerned the government has been flat-footed and lacking a clear, coherent strategy to combat an unconventional political opponent that appears impervious to scandal and traditional forms of accountability. The talking points instruct MPs to describe One Nation as a party that offers 'anger' and 'slogans' rather than 'solutions' and 'answers'. It encourages them to call out Hanson's 'appalling record' on wages and job security to undermine her self-styled image as a champion of the working class.
'Just like their mates in the Liberal party – they have consistently opposed cost-of-living relief for Australians,' the talking points, seen by Guardian Australia, state.
The talking points make no mention of immigration or Hanson's long history of anti-migration rhetoric, indicating Labor wants to steer clear of the politically sensitive topic. The focus on wages is viewed as the most effective way of appealing to what Kos Samaras describes as 'red One Nation' voters – the cohort of working-class Labor supporters prepared to switch to Hanson.
Samaras, a former Labor strategist now with Redbridge Group, says Hanson's 'kryptonite' when it comes to political messaging would be a hypothetical 35-year-old nurse warning the public that One Nation will hurt their pay packet. 'She [Hanson] could be pulled apart pretty quickly the minute you are able to convince them that she's not one of them, she's in fact just another politician,' Samaras says.
There are signs the strategy is already being pursued by the trade union movement, which now treats One Nation as its main political opponent and biggest threat to working people. After the Fair Work Commission this month awarded a 4.75% pay to minimum wage earners, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary, Sally McManus, fronted a social media video condemning Hanson's opposition to it. 'These are Aussie battlers who've been doing it tough, struggling and just scraping through, and who stood up for them and their families? Not Pauline Hanson. She argued against these increases,' McManus says in the clip.
'One Nation backs the bosses over Aussie battlers every single time.' Drawing attention to Hanson's close ties to Australia's wealthiest boss – mining magnate Gina Rinehart – is another tactic Labor MPs such as Jim Chalmers and Clare O'Neil are using in an attempt to cast her as a hypocrite. But Samaras says that line doesn't cut through because voters view Hanson's gifts from Rinehart in the same light as MPs who benefit from taxpayer-funded travel perks.