Towards the end of her address to the National Press Club this week, Pauline Hanson offered a mature perspective on One Nation’s recent polling surge. The party’s rise, she acknowledged, brings with it much greater media attention.
“It’s your job to scrutinise my party, its people and its policies,” she told political reporters. “Unlike the prime minister, I welcome it.” That doesn’t give media licence to pile on or seek to delegitimise the party, she hastened to add, and the Herald agrees.
But we are struck by the contrast between Hanson’s pledge to be more accountable, and what she then went on to say and do.
When asked by Guardian Australia senior correspondent Sarah Martin whether she had approved her daughter Lee being hired by a NSW One Nation senator despite living and at times campaigning in Tasmania, Hanson exploded. She called Martin a “trashy journalist” and seemingly threatened to ban her from future events. Several weeks earlier, Hanson was overheard saying “nasty bitch” moments after another encounter with Martin.
She also reiterated at the National Press Club that the ABC would be banned from press conferences on the campaign trail. “If you want to keep bashing me around, I won’t forget.”
The reporting by Martin – a highly competent, experienced journalist – has proved tellingly uncomfortable for Hanson. These and other questions about how One Nation is funded and operates are entirely legitimate. While the Herald does not suggest any legal wrongdoing by One Nation, it’s hard to imagine Hanson staying silent if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Opposition Leader Angus Taylor had family members employed on similar terms as Hanson’s daughter.
Hanson promised accountability on Wednesday and threw the pledge out the window the moment one tough question was put to her. Her casual disregard for a fundamental tenet of democracy does not bode well for the future, given her party is currently outpolling Labor and the Coalition.
Not content with attacking journalists, Hanson’s policy platform calls for the SBS to be abolished and the ABC to only be taxpayer-funded in regional and remote locations where commercial media is absent. She has not explained how such a convoluted arrangement would be implemented – perhaps because it would be unworkable. The ABC and SBS have flaws, but public broadcasters play an important role in Australian society. One Nation would do well to recall how previous attempts by the Liberal Party to threaten the ABC’s future have fallen flat.
The media is not infallible and can’t go to water every time Hanson says something critical of the industry. It is true that Hanson’s appeal and staying power has been understated by media. And Hanson is also right to point out that some Australians are losing trust in the traditional media organisations.
But the One Nation leader’s tactics represent an alarming Donald Trump-esque approach to scrutiny and truth which must be confronted. As has often been said, a free press is the right that guarantees all others.
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