# Why won't Pauline Hanson go away? (For Australians) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180 "2003-03-26T01:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/1 "2003-03-26T01:55:58Z")
The NSW election has just taken place, and it appears that Pauline Hanson (ugh!) has been elected to the Legislative Council. Do any Australians wish to comment on that? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/2 "2003-03-26T03:24:41Z")
Do you mean why is there an element that will always support her, or why does she keep trying? The answer to the latter is in the former, plus she is addicted to public exposure. The answer to the former is that there are always a small group of people who are a bit slow to keep up with the ideals of a civil society. Her voters are these people. However, it is good that she exists as an outlet for this proportion of the population to express themselves. It ends up acting as an educative demonstration to the rest of us. Thats the good thing about democracy. There are a couple of posters in the SD who would probably vote for her - it is good to let the lease out and give them a bit of a run. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/3 "2003-03-26T03:25:32Z")
Linkety? I canā€™t find news of this at The Australian news website or at the Sydney Morning Herald. ---
**Author:** ![BalmainBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@BalmainBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BalmainBoy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/4 "2003-03-26T03:36:47Z")
Ooooooooo, that woman! When she announced her candidature for the Upper House, and could not say who the police commissioner was, or who other ministers were, but would be demanding that ā€˜theyā€™ tell her what was going on in NSW, I thought ā€œthe arrogance of that woman. Election campaigns should be an education process for voters, so they can make an informed choice. She is demanding that it become an education process for the candidates!ā€ The problem is, all her critics come from what she perceives as the ā€˜elitesā€™ (professional politicians, bereaucracy, media). Since the ordinary rural/bluecollar/white trash people she mixes with support her, she sees criticism of her as validating her wish to represent them. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/5 "2003-03-26T05:47:29Z")
I am irrational about this woman. I have vowed to move to New Zealand for four years if she ever gets the top slot. Fortunately, I donā€™t think that will happen, but that fact that _anyone_ votes for her disgusts and sickens me. Geez, sheā€™s the only reason why I fill out ALL the options, so I can put her last. Unfortunately, there are enough narrow-minded, uneducated, rascist morons in this country that she apparently thinks sheā€™s standing up for the ā€˜averageā€™ guy. And you can add the ā€œOne Nationā€ party and the ā€œAustralians Against Immigrationā€ Party, too. Iā€™m going to go for a walk to lower the blood pressure now. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/6 "2003-03-26T09:19:53Z")
Not Australian - but lived there, and witnessed her many rises and falls. As a journalist, gotta say I loved her. She was an easy story, easy tabloid fodder, her exploits helped more than a few foreign correspondents turn a nice coin. As a politician, well Iā€™ll just ditto everything **Goo** says in her post above. That said, if we compare Hanson to the current party in power, and benchmark them as ā€œmiddle groundā€ - she is only slightly right of centre šŸ˜‰ - I mean Phillip FKING Ruddock for Immig AND ATSIC? I genuinely thought that was a joke when I first heard it, now, have experienced a little more about Howard and his boys, nothing can surprise, only further sicken and depress. ---
**Author:** ![Mame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@Mame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mame)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/7 "2003-03-26T10:54:10Z")
I can answer this from personal experience. No, not me, what are you? Insane?? [sub]I voted Unity and Greens. Carr lost us over Alan Jones and the police portfolio [/sub] No, this is the text of a conversation I had with a close acquaintance (mumblefathermumble) two days before the election. Him: ā€œThink Iā€™ll vote for that Hanson woman on Saturday.ā€ Me: "What? Why? " Him: ā€œYes. She has guts.ā€ Me (squeaking): ā€œShe has no policies. How can you?ā€ Him: ā€œOh, she doesnā€™t have a brain in her head, but she has the guts to say what everybody thinks.ā€ Never thought Iā€™d get to wish for the Good Old Days when he was a rabid Little Johnny supporter and didnā€™t think women should speak up. He isnā€™t uneducated blue collar trash as suggested in prior posts. Heā€™s a retired lawyer who lives in Wahroonga, whose Super just isnā€™t going the distance. I think her base is the disaffected. Mainly men who feel that they havenā€™t got quite what the world owes them because _they_ have taken his share, where _they_ = their pet hate group. She provides a public face for hating different minorities in turn, so each disaffected person gets a chance to have their prejudice publically validated. Could be wrong though. ---
**Author:** ![stringy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/8 "2003-03-26T11:18:19Z")
Link, anyone? Iā€™ve been away from news-bearing sources for the last few days. Iā€™m appalled that she still gets votes. I think **Mame** is right - disillusioned people vote for her, believing that because she is _different_ from other politicians that she will therefore be _better_ than the rest. Ugh. Somebody save us from people who feel like the world owes them something. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/9 "2003-03-26T12:26:52Z")
I looked earlier, but I couldnā€™t find what quota is in the NSW upper house. It canā€™t be very big. There are what, 7 non-aligned members? I donā€™t think itā€™s a big deal. She may well become ineligible to sit after her trial anyway. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/10 "2003-03-26T12:31:57Z")
Can only find links to subscription sites but: > [@](#): > > The Daily Telegraph , 26-03-03 > **Donā€™t get too excited Pauline - Upper House seat looks unlikely** > PAULINE Hansonā€™s claims on the last cushy seat in the NSW Upper House was all but lost yesterday, with supporters conceding defeat was likely. The latest results are here for the [Legislative Council](http://www.seo.nsw.gov.au/lc_results.asp). Note that Pauline Hanson is in Group ā€œLā€ with other ratā€™s & mice single/no issue parties. The One Nation group is David Oldfieldā€™s group (ex director of the National One Nation party and Paulineā€™s ex beau) As to the reasons people vote for her, well sheā€™s photogenic, taps neatly into the ā€œplague on all your housesā€ voter, and enough people like simple solutions (however ill founded) to complex problems. As to the reason she ran, itā€™s probably for pure pecuniary gain. The legal wash-up from her federal party and Queensland branch has left Pauline virually bankrupt. Which is why sheā€™s running in NSW. The NSW Upper House has [one of the democratic worldā€™s more generous troughs](http://www.old.smh.com.au/news/0201/16/opinion/opinion4.html) with a pension scheme that cuts in after seven years service. Now when MLC terms were three years, this meant that they had to win three elections, which was probably a fair deal. However, terms are now 8 years. So itā€™s currently a matter of picking up about 20-30,000 votes and with a bit of luck on the preference flow, then eight years in sleepy hollow followed by a life pension and perks. To get a seat requires winning 4.55% of the state vote (about 150,000 votes) after the allocation of preferences. The low water mark was Malcolm Jones of the Outdoor Recreation Party. He received a total of just 6734 votes in 1999 and through a truely Byzantine series of preference deals with dozens of other micro parties ended up with the last spot. The regulations are tighter now, but lots of people are still trying. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/11 "2003-03-26T14:32:37Z")
I take it ā€œLittle Johnnyā€ is (I know Iā€™m going to misspell this) Jon Bljeke-Peterson. I made the guess that Pauline could win from the New South Wales election website. (If you use Yahoo, it should be the very first site you run into) That creditied her group, Group L, with 41,000 votes. One Nation won 38,000. Adding the two together (and I do think that most One Nationers have Pauline as second preference) gets us 79,000, slightly higher than Christian Democratic Appeal (e.g., Fred Nileā€™s ego-trip). Since the CDA is always able to find the vote to get into the Legislative Council, I presumed that Hanson would as well. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/12 "2003-03-26T14:38:15Z")
As a side-note, I notice that Australia has gone from prefering third-parties that placed themselves between the two (technically three) big ones (DLP, Democrats) to liking third-parties that outflank the major parties (Greens, One Nation). With One Nation, however, I like the comment I found explaining why it momentarily hit big in Queensland (sorry, I canā€™t find a link anymore): ā€œDid you think that the state that voted for Vince Gair and Jon Bjelke-Peterson WOULDNā€™T support [One Nation]ā€ ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/13 "2003-03-26T14:50:48Z")
**having a sudden freaky mindflipped moment** ā€¦imagine ā€¦just imagineā€¦ Pauline Hanson as the first President of the future Federal Republic of Australiaā€¦ ā€¦because if talkback radio callers have their wayā€¦ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/14 "2003-03-26T15:06:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\*I am irrational about this woman. > > I have vowed to move to New Zealand for four years if she ever gets the top slot. Fortunately, I donā€™t think that will happen, but that fact that _anyone_ votes for her disgusts and sickens me. Geez, sheā€™s the only reason why I fill out ALL the options, so I can put her last. > > Unfortunately, there are enough narrow-minded, uneducated, rascist morons in this country that she apparently thinks sheā€™s standing up for the ā€˜averageā€™ guy. > > And you can add the ā€œOne Nationā€ party and the ā€œAustralians Against Immigrationā€ Party, too. Iā€™m going to go for a walk to lower the blood pressure now. \*\* NZ is not much better Goo - having recently come from there (as an aside I vowed to leave, and did, if Labour was re-elected there). NZ has its Hanson style people, notably one Winston Peters, a protege of perhaps the most autocratic politician in NZ history, one Robert Muldoon. he espouses anti-immigrant (esp asian) policies and the worst of populist policies. Actually he and Hanson may make great friends. The thing is, under the proportional representation system in NZ he gets multiple seats in parliament for his party ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/15 "2003-03-26T15:06:34Z")
If she does win, you could go into political satire. The jokes write themselves! ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/16 "2003-03-26T21:10:35Z")
> [@](#): > > I take it ā€œLittle Johnnyā€ is (I know Iā€™m going to misspell this) Jon Bljeke-Peterson No, ā€œLittle Johnnyā€ refers to John Howard (the PM), Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, former Queensland Premier is always referred to as ā€œJohā€ > [@](#): > > I notice that Australia has gone from prefering third-parties that placed themselves between the two (technically three) big ones (DLP, Democrats) to liking third-parties that outflank the major parties (Greens, One Nation). This because there isnā€™t much electoral oxygen in the middle. The only minor party making electoral gains are The Greens, and Australia wouldnā€™t be the only example of this. ---
**Author:** ![big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_yellow_kingswood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/17 "2003-03-26T23:21:29Z")
on the last figures I saw the Democrats had only 1.5% of the vote with no chance whatsoever of reaching a quota. Hanson, on the other hand, had 0.4 of a quota with an outside chance of getting a seat, allowing for preferences. Mind you, these figures are quite old and I canā€™t remember where I got them fromā€¦ Iā€™m glad Carrā€™s back though. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/18 "2003-03-27T00:28:12Z")
So, does anyone know how many votes it will take to reach a quota? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/19 "2003-03-27T01:41:31Z")
I did the math myself. Using [psephos.adam-carr.net](http://psephos.adam-carr.net) as a source, I found that Pauline has 0.37 of a quota, One Nation has 0.31, and Australians Against Further Immigration have 0.19. Added together, this is 0.87, more than enough to get into the Legislative Council. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180/20 "2003-03-27T02:11:33Z")
Even worse than Pauline Hanson getting a seat in the Upper House: Pauline Hanson Sings for Peace]([http://www.news.com.au/common/story\_page/0,4057,6157839%5E13762,00.html](http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6157839%255E13762,00.html)[/url) \*\* > [@](#): > > The NSW state election hopeful was in a Sydney studio today to record a duet with country singer Brian Letton - a cover of the Louis Armstrong classic What a Wonderful World. > > ā€œThis duet weā€™ve done now ā€¦ is virtually saying, canā€™t we all be happy, canā€™t we all sort of live in peace and harmony,ā€ she told reporters. \*\*Hehe, ā€œvirtually sayingā€ ā€“ ie, _almost_ saying. Personally, olā€™ Pauline doesnā€™t bother me too much. Unlike **Goo** , I canā€™t work up the energy to be offended by her anymore. The unabated gaffes, electoral scandals and party infighting have made her more of a comic figure than a force to be reckoned with. Besides, thereā€™s always going to be the loony disaffected fringe attracted to the nutbag candidate _du jour_. Iā€™d rather they back a stupid, incompetent woman such as Hanson rather than someone equally bigotted, but clever enough to use his or her power effectively. NSW seat or not, sheā€™s harmless. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-pauline-hanson-go-away-for-australians/164180.md?page=2)