Andrew Hastie provided a furious alternative to kowtowing to One Nation. Will it stick? | Sarah Martin

Backed by billionaires Gina Rinehart and Kerry Stokes, Pauline Hanson has unleashed on the Coalition MP, but he is showing how to hit back

The Populist: a podcast series about how Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is gaining ground in Australia

Pauline Hanson has made a career of pushing the boundaries in order to grab a headline.

Whether it is meeting with rightwinger Tommy Robinson, shifting the blame for domestic violence rates on to women, or praising Vladimir Putin, Hanson is always happy to take the low road.

Her political comeback tour of 2026 has given us the same Hanson; she is, as she says, consistent.

But this year has brought with it a new dynamic that has enabled her rise.

Gina Rinehart’s patronage has buttressed Hanson’s resurgence, with the rightwing billionaire tipping in what appears to be near-unlimited funds to realise her dream of importing Trumpism into Australia.

Rinehart’s backing was also key to bringing Barnaby Joyce across to One Nation – a critical element of giving Hanson mainstream credibility.

At the same time, the political establishment has largely chosen to pretend Hanson’s revival tour isn’t happening – sticking to the conclusions of focus groups that advise not to criticise Hanson directly.

The logic goes that taking on Hanson feeds her victim narrative and galvanises her support base.

But the strategy to vacate the field has been the background to the tripling of Hanson’s primary support in opinion polls and now sees her as preferred prime minister.

Nowhere has the absence of criticism being more apparent than within the Liberal and National parties, despite a few notable exceptions. Many on the right side of politics decided the best way to try to win back their bleeding support base was to cheer on the party from the sidelines, or to mimic it.

This has seen the Liberal party focus on the concerns of its most rightwing voters – many of whom have switched to One Nation and are not for conversion – with the added bonus of validating Hanson’s party platform.

Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin have been chief among these cheerleaders, although Basil Zempilas, the Western Australian state Liberal leader, must get special mention for the leadership that handed One Nation a seat in state parliament.