Courier-Mail Thursday 11th February 1999
Commentary:
The article below is a classic Courier-Mail "opinion piece" which clearly demonstrates the agenda of the media barons.
One Nation is referred to (again) as "simplistic nostrums of Pauline Hanson and her followers"... if you keep repeating something enough people might actually start believing you.
Of course the preference issue was again hammered home - for the umpteenth time by this unethical paper "..the Nationals tricked the Liberals into following them into a fateful electoral pact with One Nation by exchanging preferences" This, of course, according to the lying paper resulted in "The Liberals were punished savagely by their traditional support base and uncommitted voters..."
Preferences again are pushed by the editor with this statement: "Before the federal poll, the Liberals realised the enormity of their electoral blunder and distanced themselves from One Nation with a principled stand." Note the "principled" stand. How gallant - what crap.
Then we have another "principled message" when National leader Rob Borbidge says that rebel One Nation MPs are not welcome in the National Party.
The trash concludes with the following predictable statement, "reject the One Nationites to retreat to the empty policy cave"
You don't have to be an Einstein to read between the lines - One Nation and their supporters (one in four Queenslanders at the last state election) are absolute dills while the Coalition are "principled" when they refuse to court One Nation but when they do they are "incapable". This is the same paper which refers to One Nation as a "populist" party - "populist" meaning by the people for the people.
Of course all Murdoch is interested in is pulling in a few of his browny points - squashing the Laboral factions into unswerving support for the interests of their big business mates.
Welcome to the great divide. Roll on the age on enlightenment.
Courier Mail article begins here:
The politically inept way in which the Nationals and Liberal parties in Queensland handled the insurgent One Nation party in the lead-up to last year's Queensland state election continues to bedevil conservative politics in this state. Now that One Nation is potentially in its institutional death throes, the parties are again proving incapable of handling the fallout in a cohesive, coherent and comprehensive way.
The present difficulties result from the National Party seeking to manipulate the emergence of One Nation, using its voting strength as a buffer against inroads the Labor Party was making because of real and perceived government weaknesses. But the Nationals underestimated the full impact of One Nation and failed to present a message which was attractive to the hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders tempted by the simplistic nostrums of Pauline Hanson and her followers.
At the same time, the Nationals tricked the Liberals into following them into a fateful electoral pact with One Nation by exchanging preferences. The Liberals were punished savagely by their traditional support base and uncommitted voters in south-east Queensland, destroying their own fortunes and helping Labor form government. Before the federal poll, the Liberals realised the enormity of their electoral blunder and distanced themselves from One Nation with a principled stand. Now this rehabilitation is in danger because of the National Party's uncertainty over One Nation's misfortune.
Since a third of One Nation's parliamentary strength broke off last week, the Nationals have spoken with two voices. The clear, principled message - first put by state leader Rob Borbidge - is that the conservative rebels elected as One Nation MPs would not be welcome into the National Party fold under any circumstances. The opportunistic cynical approach - unsurprisingly, spoken by far north Queensland MHR Bob Katter - is that these were good people who were more than welcome to join the Nationals. It is a difference between maintaining some decency in politics and rewarding disloyalty and misbehaviour. It has always been ironic that the Nationals - the party with the biggest membership of any major party and the most responsive to rank and file sentiment - suffered the most from One Nation. As leaders such as Tim Fischer - and to a lesser extent Mr Borbidge - sought to bring the Nationals into the modern world, One Nation was able to exploit the fear and alienation in rural and regional Australia. To offer a hand of friendship to three MPs who defeated endorsed National Party candidates using these cynical tactics would be to turn away from the hard work of Mr Fischer and others. The choice for the National Party is to face the future and reject the One Nationites to retreat to the empty policy cave that MPs like Mr Katter find comfortable. Those who voted One Nation will only be "won back" if politicians are honest with the electorate. As for the Liberals, if the Nationals do reward these MPs for defeating their loyal members, they have no choice but to break off relations with their Coalition partner.