One Nation’s surging popularity has left Australia’s political establishment floundering. The uniparty is responding according to a handbook which is a quarter of a century out of date, with the ISIS brides questions allowing both Liberal and Labor to opportunistically compete with each other to look the toughest on border protection.
From news.com:
The Albanese government does not want dozens of Islamic State-linked women and children to return to Australia and is doing “nothing to help”, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says…
Asked if the government was actively trying to stop the cohort returning, he said: “We don’t want them to come back.”
Pressed further, he said the government was “actively making sure we do nothing to help them”.
“Other than a temporary exclusion order, there isn’t a legislative power to be able to stop an Australian citizen from entering Australia,” Mr Burke said.
The Liberals have upped the ante by proposing to criminalise any help offered to the ISIS brides.
Labor has dismissed this on the grounds that the Liberal Party is just making “a grab for a headline.” It’s a half truth, as both parties are making grabs for the headlines and everybody knows why.
John Howard is credited with winning the 2001 election, shortly after 9/11, on the back of his hardline approach to foreigners attempting to enter Australia illegally by boat. This also allowed him to claw votes back from One Nation.
Again in 2013-2014, the Liberal government was elected with a mandate to “stop the boats”. Scott Morrison oversaw this successful operation as Minister for Immigration and Border protection, an achievement which contributed to his surprise election victory in 2018.
Australia’s political class believe they have learned the lesson, as demonstrated by Patricia Karvelas’ clueless commentary:
Albanese was in the parliament when Labor was last in government, and scores of boats arrived. It may not be the same as the ISIS bride issue, but it is adjacent politically, and he knows it can cause an inferno for Labor if it doesn’t shut the issue down.
As opposition leader, Albanese knew he had to demonstrate to mainstream voters that Labor had learnt its lesson and would not see a repeat of the issue. His pragmatism in adopting contentious policies such as boat turn-backs and offshore processing showed he knew the party had to be seen as credible to get elected.
Back then, the biggest risk to Labor looking soft on these kinds of policies came only from the Coalition; now they are staring down a new risk.
One Nation’s hardline rhetoric is reshaping the political contest. And that means Labor’s position is also shifting — out of necessity, not because of any change in ideology.
This completely misses the point. One Nation’s hardline rhetoric is not reshaping the political contest. The importation of millions upon millions of foreigners into Australia has completely reshaped the nation, the political contest, and the worldview of ordinary Australians.
White/Anglo Australians recognise that we are becoming strangers in our own land, and that mass immigration and state mandated multiculturalism is replacing us in our own land. Aussies have reached a tipping point whereby we are no longer voting along the lines of class, ideology or local issues. Aussies are increasingly voting on one issue alone:
Race.
One Nation is currently perceived as representing White/Anglo Australians, thus it is surging.
The lesson Australia’s political class ignore regarding Howard’s and Morrison’s ephemeral success is that in both cases, the hardline rhetoric on border protection was a bait and switch, acting as cover for unprecedented increases in mass replacement immigration.
Of course Aussies oppose the return of a few dozen ISIS brides. They picked a side. However, when the major parties now talk tough on border protection, Aussies recognise the charade and we will never forgive the betrayal.
