CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The 2025 Federal Election is around the corner, and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation are once again throwing the kitchen sink at it.
With a campaign war chest that has been topped up by mum and dad donors, as well as a few shadowy billionaires, Pauline Hanson aims to run candidates in every economically-distressed semi-rural Federal Electorate that Australia has to offer.
She’s also going to be putting forward senators in each state, with the hopes of repeating her success in the 2016 election when the minor party snatched four upper house seats.
However, 2025 isn’t the same as 2016 – when Pauline Hanson was able to ride high on the fruitful combination of a moderate Liberal Prime Minister in Malcolm Turnbull, and the extreme Islamophobia that was being generated by the Australian media during the rise of ISIS.
In 2022, she ran on an anti-vaccination platform, which meant she was competing with Clive Palmer for the ‘cooker vote’.
As the news cycle shows less interest in religious extremism, and more than a third of Australians now listing themselves as either first or second generation immigrants – the question remains? What is Pauline Hanson going to offer voters.
With a far-right figurehead like Peter Dutton as leader of the Liberals, the strategists at One Nation are struggling to find a point of difference.
Is this simply a strategy to make a buck out of campaign funds? Or does she really think she can compete with the increasingly popular minor parties and Independents?
One thing that is for certain is that Pauline isn’t very good at retaining the politicians that she does get elected. Will she be able to stop them from leaving her party the moment they enter Parlaiment?
Furthermore, have her background checks improved on candidates? Judging by the last couple weeks of headlines – the answer is no.
Here is the 8 archetypical One Nation candidates currently fighting to get elected in the rust belt electorates of semi-rural Australia:
1. The Full Blown Racist
Likes: Sky News
Dislikes: Multiculturalism
Motivation: Misplaced nostalgia for a time when you could hit kids with a belt and there was no such thing as a middle class
Political Priority: Altering the constitution to deport citizens who don’t look like him
Relationship With Pauline: He worships her / She doesn’t know who he is
2. The Full Blown Christian
Likes: Traditional family values, unpaid female domestic labour
Dislikes: Gays being allowed to be school teachers
Motivation: To stop other religions from having religious freedoms
Political Priority: Altering the constitution to deport citizens who don’t worship the same God as him
Relationship With Pauline: He has raised a lot of money for her / She finds him a bit how ya going
3. The Old Duck Who’s Had A Gutful
Likes: Telling it how it is
Dislikes: Bleeding-Heart Lefties
Motivation: Youth crime
Political Priority: Longer sentences for youth criminals
Relationship With Pauline: There’s only room for one alpha female who’s had a gutful
4. The Conspiracist
Likes: Low-tier conspiracy theories involving weather patterns and The UN
Dislikes: Facebook fact checkers
Motivation: The Scamdemic
Political Priority: Exposing the cabals
Relationship With Pauline: She thinks she can control him / He will become an independent minutes after he gets sworn in
5. Disgraced Ex-Labor Adulterer
Likes: Power
Dislikes: Scrutiny
Motivation: To salvage his political connections
Political Priority: To stay in the media
Relationship With Pauline: They loathe each other but need each other
6. The Disgraced Ex-Liberal Homosexual
Likes: Power
Dislikes: The Media
Motivation: Syphoning campaign funds into his own bank account
Political Priority: Syphoning preferences to the Liberals
Relationship With Pauline: Toxic mother and son relationship
7. The Dim-Witted Son From A Prominent Business Family
Likes: Getting blind drunk at the races
Dislikes: Being compared to his much more impressive relatives
Motivation: To prove to his family that he’s also important
Political Priority: Removing red tape for corporates
Relationship With Pauline: She appreciates his proximity to wealthy people / He thinks he will replace her as leader
8. The Psycho Criminal
Likes: One Nation’s lack of background checks
Dislikes: Society
Motivation: Unknown
Political Priority: Unknown
Relationship With Pauline: She thinks he’s upstanding citizen / He thinks she’s a useful idiot
