One Nation’s rise in the polls has delivered party leader Pauline Hanson a massive public profile. Now, more than 18 months out from the federal election, some of the nation’s corporates have started wondering whether they need to start building relationships with the populist right-wing party.
Lobbyists in Canberra have already started hearing from clients asking when they need to start ingratiating themselves with Hanson and Barnaby Joyce, CBD hears, in the event the party retains enough popularity over the next six to 12 months to begin negotiating with major parties before the election.
But many lobbyists would be clamouring to get a line into the party – or at least to Hanson’s gatekeeper and chief of staff, James Ashby – from a standing start.
Unlike Labor and the Coalition, most of One Nation’s former staffers aren’t as, er, entrepreneurial as their major party counterparts, many of whom parlay their time in public office into jobs in corporate affairs or lobbying for significantly more money.
There are only a few names being bandied about in political circles as possible One Nation relationship brokers – or “Pauline whisperers” – should Hanson maintain her popularity over the next year or so.
Among them is Gina Rinehart’s media minder James Radford, who also runs his own communications shop, and is already known to Ashby and Hanson as a result of his work with the billionaire, a major One Nation supporter who has donated an aeroplane to the party.
Another name floated is none other than former Nationals deputy campaign director and conservative lobbyist Michael Kauter, who along with his ex-husband, David Gracey, has been known to be friendly with Ashby and Hanson over the years. We hear Kauter tells people his connection to One Nation stretches back to boarding school, when he went to a One Nation rally and was threatened with expulsion.
Then there’s Scott Mitchell, who spent five years as the federal director of the Nationals before setting up his own lobby shop, Scott Mitchell and Partners, in 2017, and whose name has been linked to the party because of Joyce.
What we do know is that One Nation probably wouldn’t want any association with any of them, given the lengths the party has gone to distance itself from the business of government and the circus of hangers-on that comes with it.
Karl’s wife goes private
It’s been a big week for erstwhile Today co-host Karl Stefanovic. Late on Wednesday evening, news trickled out of Nine’s 1 Denison Street headquarters that the company had parted ways with the high-profile personality after he controversially published an interview with the far-right freakshow Tommy Robinson.
Nine, owner of this masthead, extended Stefanovic’s contract for one year in late 2025, setting the table for an explosive exit for its star host while he was in the UK this week, lighting up phones across the media industry.
So we can only guess that his wife, Jasmine Stefanovic, had more than her fill of random journalists lurking on her Instagram account to figure out where she and her husband were hanging out while in London, with photographers on standby for shots of Karl in the aftermath of his corporate split. The account, which we were surprised had been public for as long as it has this year, finally went dark on Thursday.
Young Nats want to get ripped
Just this week, CBD brought word that former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro was back in the party fold after he was elected to the central council of the NSW Nationals at the party’s annual general conference in Albury.
Well, next cab off the rank is the NSW Young Nationals, who will descend on Nelson Bay Golf Club for their own state conference on July 4. And if the agenda is anything to go by, it sounds like the Young Nats are set for robust debate.
Take this motion, for instance, from the Greater Sydney branch – that the party impose “minimum fitness standards” as part of the candidate screening process, which, if passed, would introduce new “requirements to pass a minimum fitness and health screening” to be eligible for preselection.
Another doozy, this time proposed by the New England branch, calls for the “termination” of eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, along with the abolition of her position. Bold stuff from the young ones.
When reached by CBD, a spokesperson for the NSW Young Nationals wouldn’t be drawn on either motion.
“The NSW Nationals is a grassroot party with every Young National member having the opportunity to submit motions for the Young Nationals Annual General Conference,” the spokesperson told CBD.
“Motions on the agenda should not be taken to represent the official policy or position of the NSW Young Nationals unless and until they are successfully carried by State Council or Annual General Conference.”
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