One Nation 'Death Clock' Begins As Hot-Headed 70-Year-Old Bushie Is Expected To Do As He's Told By Pauline
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT The entire Australian political system is in a state of shock this week after One Nation&
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The entire Australian political system is in a state of shock this week after One Nation's historic Farrer by-election win.
This marks the first time that the far-right minor party has ever won a lower house seat in Federal Parliament, claiming 57 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
One Nation's candidate, 70-year-old agribusiness consultant David Farley, has proven himself capable of enduring the pressure of having every Australian news camera and microphone pointed at him for the last fortnight.
However, the same cannot be said for One Nation's leadership, who appeared rattled by the level scrutiny surrounding their campaign - which is something they've never before had to deal with as a minor party from Queensland.
In the final days of last week's campaign, the media began publishing leaks from senior figures in One Nation, who appeared to be turning on their own candidate after it became clear that he had previously been in talks with the Labor Party ahead of the 2022 Federal Election.
On the ground in Farrer, leader Pauline Hanson was refusing to do interviews with the ABC or any other news publisher that she considers 'The Enemy'.
Farley, who understands that every Australian farmer still watches ABC Landline every Sunday, chose a much less Trumpian approach - with many locals commenting that he comes across as much more of a 'independent' - regardless of whether or not he had found a way to get Gina Rinehart to pay for his election campaign.
Even during the live candidate debate, hosted by Charles Sturt University on the 30th of April, Farley appeared to be detracting from One Nation talking points - specifically when he came to his far less xenophobic views on immigration.
Farley has since told Sky News that his victory was a result of "listening to Farrer" he said, using the type of measured and democratic language that One Nation is not known for.
With Farley now in Parliament, the question remains: why did a 70-year-old from a multi-generational agricultural family not run for the Nationals. Was it perhaps because he got sick of the self-defeatist culture wars that came to define the party under Barnaby Joyce?
If so, has Barnaby Joyce gotten any more electable since joining One Nation?
Does Pauline Hanson understand that David Farley's number one concern is the Farrer electorate and the many issues facing locals when it comes to health, education and water policy? Or will she now be expecting him to join her on the road to complain about the scars that Muslim women wear when they visit the shops in Western Sydney to buy the produce that is being farmed in the Farrer electorate?
Will a 70-year-old hot-headed irrigator that become so disillusioned with the low-effort political tactics of the Australian right-wing that he briefly considered joining the Labor Party do as he's told by a professional populist from Ipswich who has never once outlined an economic policy?
The Betoota Advocate gives this marriage of convenience 87 days and 9 hours before David Farley officially becomes the Independent candidate that he campaigned as.