Hanson hangs her hopes on hateful media

Comment: There is a startling insight to the article below by Mike O'Connor which, by its terminology suggests that he has watched the programme. The truth is he has not - all O'Connor has read is the ABC press release on the story about Pauline Hanson which goes live to air tonight.

This is where he got the ABC's background information from which the trash he writes is spun... I can tell you that the ABC are absolutely furious about the lack of ethics and balance displayed by The Courier-Mail but we are not surprised. This is just par for the course for Murdoch's lackeys.

The Courier-Mail - 17th February 1999, Mike O'Connor

In another life, Pauline Hanson could have sold air conditioning franchises in Antarctica.

Those doubting this assertion should tune to Australian Story: Something about Pauline tomorrow evening.

When she speaks of women walking up to her and saying, "I would be so proud if you were my daughter," you're tempted to reach for a tissue. Hanson may blame the media for many of the woes that have beset her - "They're a pack of wolves and they absolutely disgust me. I think a lot of them are biased in their views and they have no scruples whatsoever."

For someone who despises the media so much, she has learned to use it to her considerable advantage as she shows in this programme, playing to the camera as a victim of her popularity.

"I've found it hard to find friends, whether they be male or female... but just finding someone because of who I am and the position that I am in," she sighs.

The wounded appearance she projects is reminiscent of a dog which has just been ordered out of the house. "What have I done? Why me?" it asks.

She may well be a spent force, soon to be consigned to history's wastebin as a political trinket no longer worthy of display.

Watching her on Australian Story however, it is easy to see the appeal which she projected to her followers.

Whether she appreciates it or not, it is an appeal which shone because the average Australian politician exudes all the spontaneity, enthusiasm and concern of a long-dead mullet.

By comparison, Hanson was Joan of Arc.

The programme also interviews her children and friends, all of whom, not surprisingly, say exceedingly nice things about her.

Nor are the responses from the woman herself revelatory. She's learnt too much too fast to be caught off-guard and open the window to her soul, in this regard becoming one of the political species which she claims to despise, the practised pollie.

It is tempting to suggest that if nothing else, she has taught our elected representatives that the days of dedicated self-interest are gone - tempting but hopelessly optimistic.

Australian Story asks "What is it about Pauline?"

Watching this programme, it is not hard to deduce the answer which is simply that she convinced people that she actually cared.

It's the desperate need for that care in the electorate, viewers, that is as sad as it is frightening.

Here is the text from the ABC press release used by O'Connor:

Something About Pauline

"I’ve found it very hard to find friends, whether they be male or female... But just finding someone, because of who I am and the position that I am in, that you can speak to them openly, so you tend to keep very much to yourself. So, I haven’t got many close friends.

"I’ve been able to get the Australian people to stop and think and listen and to have a voice. And how many people have ever been able to do that. I’ve been able to turn the Australian political scene around in less than two years. Can they do that?

"I think they’re (the media) a pack of wolves and they absolutely disgust me. I think a lot of them are so biased in their views, they have no scruples about them whatsoever, they have no respect for anyone’s privacy. And with a lot of them, if it happened to them they’d probably squeal the most."

She must be the most controversial woman to ever emerge in Australian public life.

Her name is Pauline Hanson and she’s changed the face of Australian politics.

She has been demonised and deified, ridiculed and revered.

She’s scaled the heights and the depths.

It’s been the kind of roller coaster that would crush most mortals.

The politics have been exhaustively examined, but on February 18 Australian Story attempts to get beyond the hype and the hysteria to answer the question - "just what is it about Pauline?"

Australian Story started filming with Pauline Hanson at the end of last year after One Nation’s disastrous Federal election showing.

The program includes emotional, candid and personal material and contains fresh insights from family members and associates who have not previously been interviewed.

Extracts from the ABC's The Australian Story

Return to the Australian paper archives.