I will begin this post by stating that I have never been a fan of Pauline Hanson, and I am not a supporter of her political party One Nation. I do not endorse her popularist views and I do not particularly like how she presents herself. That being said, what I am witnessing is the personal rise of Pauline Hanson and the endorsement of the One Nation political party as a serious contender.

What I find particularly interesting is the success of the Fire the Liar advertising campaign. Pauline has raised around $4 million in political donations to run this advertising campaign against Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Not that long ago, I believed the Liberal and National Opposition in Australia was done and dusted. The Albanese Government has a dominant position, the Liberal Party is now a hollowed out shell of a political party.

In this regard, all respect to Pauline, the failed far right-wing policies leading into the 2025 election of Peter Dutton destroyed the Liberal Party trying to emulate right-wing MAGA policies. Pauline Hanson saw the destruction yet forged ahead with her pseudo-MAGA agenda and not only gained traction, she has doubled support of her One Nation party as compared to the Liberal Party and rivals the entrenched Albanese Labor Party one year after their dominant election victory.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much so far out from an election, traditionally One Nation has imploded, so one would expect some scandals based on previous recruiting of members. Former National Party Leader and now defectee Barnaby Joyce made a fool of himself on national television where he was unable to explain One Nation policy. Are they really going to kick foreign nationals out of the country and engage in forced property sales? One hopes not, but positions change very quickly when power is achieved.

I just hope Barnaby was purely having a brain fade here, a bad day of sorts. Fortunately, he was forced to retract this statement after party clarification. There are plenty of opportunities for further mistakes, this polling showing Pauline Hanson as preferred Prime Minister may collapse before the next election. Ask Peter Dutton, he can explain to Pauline how fast an opinion poll lead can evaporate. With Australia’s richest woman Gina Rhinehart funding One Nation, this could quickly turn into a billionaire enhancing policy party just like Trump is pushing.