Pauline Hanson is back
March 2nd 2009 19:53
Pauline Hanson
When I heard, three minutes ago, that Pauline Hanson and Warwick Capper are likely to contest the seat of Beaudesert in the Queensland state election on March 21, I thought, "Best take two aspirin and go back to bed."
My second thought was, how best to describe this to a visitor to Australia, one of those underprivileged people who have grown up without the benefit of exposure to the glittering lives of these two extraordinary Australians?
Let's start with an introduction.
Pauline Lee Hanson (née Seccombe). Born May 27, 1954. Raised in the Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba. Father owned a fish and chip shop. Left school at the age of 15. Worked in a variety of unskilled jobs. Accumulated several rental properties. Became independently wealthy.
Hanson then entered politics. She became an independent councillor with the City of Ipswich, and then won endorsement as the Liberal Party's candidate for the national seat of Oxley for the March 1996 Federal election. Oxley was the safest Labor seat in Queensland, but Hanson found a way to change everything. Just before the election, she told a newspaper that she believed special government assistance for indigenous Australians should be scrapped.
Just how calculated it was, we will never know, although no-one can deny that Hanson went on to make a luminous, if brief, political career out of bigotry. The initial comments to the newspaper led to her being dropped by the Liberal Party (but too late for this to be noted on the ballot papers), led to her winning the support of every redneck yokel who had ever nursed a grievance against Aboriginals, and led to her romping home in the election with 54 per cent of the vote.
So Pauline Hanson entered Federal Parliament, where she was not allowed to sit with the Liberals. And she delivered a maiden speech which dwarfed anything she had done before in terms of shock and outrage. In essence, Pauline Hanson wanted the government to stop allowing Asians to migrate to Australia.
It made international headlines, as did the tide of support which Hanson garnered for her views. While much of Australia watched in shock, Hanson became a powerful political figure, and in April 1997 founded the One Nation party.
On August 20, 2003, Hanson was convicted of electoral fraud and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. There were stories of political pressure from on high to ensure a conviction and to guarantee that Hanson never again entered politics. On November 6, 2003, the Queensland Court of Appeal overturned the guilty verdict and rebuked many politicians, including then Prime Minister John Howard, for "observations" which demonstrated "a fundamental misunderstanding of the Rule of Law...[and] an attempt to influence the judicial...process".
Hanson's message was essentially a white Australia policy, but it received such widespread support that debate continues to rage in Australia, in the halls of acadaemia, in legislatures, and around dinner tables. She polarised the country like few have ever done, but in doing so brought into the open a racist attitude which had clearly been underestimated. She was hailed or hated, with little in between. In 2006, she was named by the The Bulletin magazine as one of the 100 most influential Australians of all time
And now she's back.
Warwick Capper. Born June 12, 1963. An Australian rules football legend. Played briefly for the Brisbane Bears before moving to the bright lights of Sydney. Wearing skin-tight shorts, he kicked 388 goals in 123 games from 1983-1991, including 103 goals in 1987 season. Flamboyant on and off field personality. Remembered for world's most extravagant mullet hairstyle.
Since retiring from football, Capper has worked as a council road worker and Amway agent, and tried his hand at multi-level marketing and pornography.
Capper says he will swap his BMW for a Hummer if he wins the election. Says he knows a bit about the Beaudesert area because "I went there once - a fair few Aborigines and very multicultural out there." Suggests, "We could have a bit of a cook-off between me and Pauline. She's got the fish shop and I'm about to open a coffee shop called Warwick Cappuccino".
Capper has yet to nominate formally. Nominations close today, March 3. We don't seriously expect his hat to land in the ring, because one final piece of information we discovered is that Capper and Hanson have the same publicist, "celebrity agent" Max Markson.
Capper's flirtation with politics, therefore, appears to be a self-serving stunt.
Hanson's may also be described as self-serving, but unfortunately it's no stunt.
news.com.au, en.wikipedia.org, goldcoast.com.au, theage.com.au
Warwick Capper
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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and what is so special about that particular electorate?
does it have a strong history of voting in independants? (or idiots)
Comment by Chris Champion
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Living in an electorate is not mandatory. Convincing the voters that you have their best interests at heart is harder, I guess, if you live elsewhere, but that's different. In Capper's case, well, who cares? In Hanson's case, maybe Beaudesert is a bastion of hardcore rednecks?
Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
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She's a total boge and a lot of boges relate to her and vote for her. What is so strange about that? Corporate dickheads related to John Howard and voted for him. Delusional people who like the fact Kevin Rudd speaks Mandarin voted for him. The whole three should be put in detention camps up on Thursday Island and learn how real Australians live.
All I want from life is for Pauline to re-open a fish and chip joint and have a 'Please Explain' on the specials board.
I'd like to grab hold of her buttocks and say, "This reminds me of the day I caught a gummy shark."
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Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
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Total tosser. Almost makes me embarrassed to admit I played Aussie Rules.
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Comment by Janet Collins
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I followed Pauline Hanson's rise and fall and as racist as she was, I am not convinced she held these views before she decided to run for Parliament.
Although Hanson ran on a platform of anti-Aboriginal, anti-Asian immigration, some of her other policies were way to the left. She was also against the open market system and how this had left so many without real jobs and finding work in various casual positions.
You have to remember that this was Queensland where most of the people live outside of the city. In fact, after being dumped by the Liberals, she said in an interview that her views were no different to John Howards which were on record in a speech he gave back in 1988 (I think).
Her policies most likely came from what she heard in the supermarket, the local fairs and all around Oxley. I don't think Labor or Liberal could have anticipated the following and the publicity Hanson got once she won the seat and both parties were losing voters to her.
I loathed the way she divided people into racists and politically correct idiots but Australia has moved on and it would be difficult to pull the same stunt again but you have to give her points for trying!
And you.....a mullet? No.
Comment by Damo
Tough Choice.
Alien verses Predator.
Mullet verses the Rust Top.
Evil verses ....? Is the word for super evil?
Dumb verse Dumber.
Who is the third candidate?
Comment by alt_ed
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I know one thing for sure, she won't be getting Teresa's vote... she loves Asians.
Comment by Chris Champion
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I think you've summed it up well.
She has carved a career on opportunism and nurtured it with prejudice and hatred.
Comment by Chris Champion
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After that, anything was possible.
Comment by Chris Champion
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The third candidate, I hope, is Mr Shoo In.
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Hi Ruby, a nil-all draw comes to mind.
Hi Howard, it's easy to generalise and of course you're right that's it's not as straightforward as it looks. But then, at the bottom of all this is the biggest monster of all - politics.
Comment by Ombi
there's that red hair and hot pink lipstick.
Be afraid..be VERY, VERY afraid!!!!!!!!
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Comment by Brenton
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Good luck! Your reasons for asking people to elect you to the Parliament of Queensland are a lot more honourable than those of P. Hanson.
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Comment by The wonderful Peter Yang
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Stay healthy and loose weight
Cheers
Comment by Yuri
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Pauline Hanson is certainly free to air her views, as are you free to come here to my blog and air yours. I'm just glad it's you that has to live with your attitude and not me.
And you still didn't click my Vote button! How ungenerous is that?
Comment by Yuri
You have your views, I have mne, Pauline has hers.
Pauline was an excellent business woman. In her fish shop she was a hard working woman..sold an excellent product and worked long hours. She was not like a lot of the other bludgers out there now days. And I might add that in her shop she employed an Asian lady who thought very highly of her.
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Eat, Shop and Enjoy
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I'm sorry, but I'm embarrassed to admit that Pualine Hanson is an Aussie! She goes against everything good about our country, she's a bigot with a narrow-minded political approach.
Sure, she's one some support... but support for what? Did people support her based on her policy with regards to education, health, the economy etc. Or did she simply just swing some voters by increasing racial tension in remote areas?
Personally, I think she's a hack! Obviously not the only hack in politics, but certainly one of the biggest. Throwing tantrums when things don't go her way and generally just acting like a spoilt little kid in a toy shop.
If you're the type of person that agrees with Hanson's Policy (or lack thereof) then I perhaps YOU should OPEN YOUR EYES AND THINK WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO THIS BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IF SHE WERE PRIME MINISTER!!!
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Thank god they're not all racists bastards like you!!
And really, is the problem in the UK due to immigration? Or a decline in the moral standards of the predominantly Caucasian population?
I'm of Indian decent, and my family are from the UK. When England colonised Indian some many, many, many moons ago, my predecessors moved to England. My family opened what is now generally regarded as the worlds oldest, continuously run Indian Restaurant... In London- Is that a sign of what's wrong with England? Even Churchill has dined there.
If anything the English policy seems to be working just fine, I mean, they got rid of you!!
Comment by Matthewj
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Also, if you'd like to talk about terrorists it's a little simplistic to say 'terrorists are raised as such from childhood'. There have been research studies that show a large majority of terrorists are in fact well educated and from the middle classes.
Another point to mention is that the first suicide bombing attack by a Muslim did not occur until the 1980s... Even the Irish we're blowing themselves up before then! And what of Timothy McVeigh? He was a United States Army veteran and security guard who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, as revenge against what he considered to be a tyrannical federal government. The bombing killed 168 people, and was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Of course! He must have been a Muslim, secretly trained to become a terrorist by his Muslim Paki parents.
On the religious front, I am sure that there are many countries that do not allow people to freely practice a religion of their choice. But hey, look at China... they had banned EVERY RELIGION (it was, still basically IS an atheist state!).
I'm just a little dumb struck by the bigoted bogan views that you seem to hold so dear. Perhaps your 'white' coloured classes need a clean- you're vision is certainly not clear!
One last note- it doesn't matter where a boundary is drawn between countries. We are all inhabitants of earth, which means we are all neighbours. No matter where you reside your actions DO/WILL impact people you have and most likely will never meet... however, this does not justify your selfish approach, and disregard for the well being of others.