It has a reputation as a political battleground and Pauline Hanson’s party is coming for it.
The major parties are on notice that voters are fed up with the status quo,and this week’s budget announcements suggest they are getting the message.
The One Nation leader was keen to project confidence. In a wobbly press conference,she ended up guarding her MPs from questions about rogue volunteers and false flag events.
Allan Beale,who clashed with Liberal senator James Paterson at a polling station during the Farrer campaign,also supported neo-Nazi figure Thomas Sewell in a series of social media posts.
With so much already revealed in the budget,there was little need for lobbyists to head to Parliament House.
Thousands of voters on the Victorian side of the border share the same grievances that drove their NSW counterparts to abandon the Coalition. But it doesn’t end there.
Speculation has swirled that the Coalition and One Nation could join forces after Pauline Hanson’s party seized its first lower house victory at an election on Saturday.
The Coalition can be wiped out in its strongest booths. An urban-versus-rural divide still exists without major parties. And One Nation is making inroads everywhere.
While the main parties fought with each other,voter resentment was building. Pauline Hanson took notice,and in Farrer she was just getting started.
Father Peter MacLeod-Miller,an influential Anglican figure,said:“In our rush to be inclusive,I think we’ve lost some of the distinctive Australian spirit.”