After the election results came in, I posted about the implications for the Turnbull government of dealing with One Nation as if it were a normal and legitimate political party.
“It seems likely, however, that Turnbull is going to treat One Nation, for the first time in Australia, as a normal political party, and to negotiate with Hanson as an equal. That would be a new low for him, and for Australia. And, sooner or later, it will come back to bit him and the LNP. For an object lesson in the dangers of courting racist votes while maintaining a claim to be non-racist, he need only look at the US Republican party.”
It is already clear that this analysis fell far short of the mark. Far from being “just another minor party”, One Nation has become a semi-formal member of the LNP Coalition and part of the dominant right-wing grouping within that coalition. The two most striking developments, among many, are:
- The decision of the Queensland LNP to preference One Nation ahead of Labor. This is unusual in itself, given that no election is in prospect any time soon, and it is a radical reversal of the pre-election position of putting One Nation last; and
- The alliance between One Nation and the LNP right to promote a change to hate speech laws, allowing racial speech that “offends” or “insults” the target.
I remain convinced that this will prove a path to disaster for the LNP in the long run, but it could do a great deal of damage to Australia while the LNP-ONP coalition remains in office.
The 18C issue — a whole post to itself, but the central point here is that this move does not reflect any general commitment to free speech, along the (apocryphal) Voltairian line that “I disagree with what you say, but defend to the death your right to say it”. The backers of this proposal are people who want to exercise the freedom to make offensive and insulting racial attacks.
Of course, it’s important to avoid the ad hominem fallacy here. The claim that “people have a right to be bigots” isn’t invalidated by the fact that most of its proponents (though not, I think, George Brandis) are bigots themselves. But the simple political fact is that racists are now viewed as acceptable by the LNP, and are already a substantial, if not dominant, faction within that party. Most of this faction has no interest in free speech for anyone but themselves.
If any change to laws governing public speech is to be addressed by this Parliament, it should not take the form of an escape clause specifically designed for bigots. Rather we should be looking at a general guarantee of free speech, something that does not currently exist in Australia.
Finally, I’ll repeat, in sharper form, a question I’ve raised before. If right-wing LNP backbenchers have a consequence-free right to vote against party policy on hate speech, why don’t supporters of equal marriage have the same right? The most obvious target of this question is former IPA official Tim Wilson, who has vigorously attacked 18C while toeing the party line on equal marriage, despite his stated support.
*This article was originally published at John Quiggin’s blog
Perhaps the underlying question is: How smart is Hanson?
It rather seems that the Liberal Party put her in jail as political revenge. Has she forgiven?
Rocky, she’s probably forgotten. More important things on her plate right now like . . well, catching up with her old mate Tony Abbott for one. That’s almost an induction into the LNP right’s clubhouse. She might be all over the shop but why would they care? Every now and again she’ll be handy, either to make up the numbers or to dump on, with Abbott holding the reins and Pauline holding the strings to her muppets.
Cynics would think rAbbott would go down on Pauline to get her support for his agenda.
Has the Moderator finished early today? That’s a pretty offensive comment.
In light of Abbott’s comment in 2010 that he’d doing anything short of “… selling my arse…” to be PM the comment seems rather apt.
Crude but apt.
Ummm Her “Media Adviser” is Marcus Ashby. The the LNP operative that took down the traitor Peter Slipper…why are we surprised?
Correction: James Ashby.
I am still amazed that the conciliation meeting the Abbottrocity & Hanson was actually recorded as “a good thing”.
Why is anyone surprised? When Hanson first appeared spewing her racist bile, John Howard and the other so called Liberals refused to come out and criticise her or her comments. Then he gradually incorporated her policies into the party policies which appeared in the Tampa events. This extraordinary sellout of what the Liberals stood for heralded a successful division of the Australian community against itself. It was a disaster for our nation and brought every racist scumbag out from under the rocks where common decency had kept them. Unfortunately, it seems it also brought some of them into the coalition senate membership. Take 18C with 18D and the only reason for repealing 18C is that you want to make racist, bigoted comments which are untrue and in bad faith.
Seeing the standard of comment on this site, you should not bother Pauline Hanson. Have a good look at yourselves, disgusting!