Rebranded Pauline Hanson: A Party of Policy or Protest?

Abstract

The title of this chapter comes from David Marr’s ongoing interest in Pauline Hanson: an interest I share, having watched her rise in 1996, contemplated what happened to her during her years in the political wilderness, and watched her successful return to politics in 2016. More broadly, the idea of looking at Hanson and Hansonism through the prisms of policy or, alternatively, protest is interesting. It changes how one thinks about her, her Party, its minor electoral successes, and its major electoral failures. Examining Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party (PHONP) as a party of policy focuses our attention upon its impact on the legislative agenda, in both 1996 and 2016. Alternatively, in considering PHONP as a party of protest, its positions are stripped of the pretense of seeking change and instead become mere rhetoric.