It appears Victorians are warming to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, with new polling giving One Nation 9.4% of the primary vote, ahead of The Greens’ 8.8%:
Victorian voters are warming to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation after shunning her party at the federal election, with nearly one in ten people indicating support in a new poll.
Ms Hanson’s return to the Senate has seen a bounce in her popularity in the traditionally progressive state, with One Nation capturing 9.4 per cent of the state primary in a new ReachTEL poll of 1649 Victorians…
While I am only speculating, I presume that this support for One Nation has arisen because of its opposition to mass immigration, recently supported in-part by Dick Smith.
Melbourne is the epicentre for Australia’s policy of mass immigration, which has tri-partisan support from the three major parties (The Greens’ tacitly rather than explicit).
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In the decade to June 2015, Melbourne added an incredible 832,000 people – the largest population increase out of Australia’s capital cities (see next chart).
Moreover, official projections have Melbourne’s population increasing by around 1,850 people per week (97,000 people per year) for the next 35 years!
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This breakneck population growth (immigration) has already ground Melbourne to a halt, with road congestion worsening each year and public transport ‘crush loaded’ much of the time. Many Melbournians know that they are facing deteriorating living standards as perpetual mass immigration continues to overload existing infrastructure, as well as placing acute pressure on housing, which is already highly unaffordable.
Amazingly, amid the national controversy over Dick Smith’s partial support for One Nation’s zero net immigration policy, The Greens have remained conspicuously silent on the whole population issue, yet again refusing to address the giant elephant in the room.
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Accordingly, voters seeking an alternative to mass immigration have shifted their support to One Nation – not because they like its overall policies or views, but because they are the only elected party to have a policy restricting population growth.
What Australia desperately needs is a centrist and moderate party to offer a sustainable population policy without the racist bigotry. I believe that Sustainable Australia has the makings of such a party, but it is only in its infancy and currently too small and not yet well known enough to voters.
The end result is as sad as is it predictable: voters shifting to the only refuge to mass immigration and a “Big Australia” they know of – Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. The mainstream parties better wake up and sniff the changing political winds.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
