Introduction by Croakey: News broke yesterday that the Coalition has done a preferences deal with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party ahead of the federal election.
The deal was not publicly announced but became clear when pre-poll voting began on Tuesday. How-to-vote cards issued by the Coalition placed One Nation candidates above Labor in 139 seats, and One Nation second on the ballot in 55 seats, ABC reported.
Meanwhile, Hanson reportedly pulped and reprinted her preference suggestions in a number of seats – including the marginal seat of Dickson held by Opposition leader Peter Dutton – despite previously saying she would advocate for “parties of freedom” and “conservative independents” over both major parties.
The first version of One Nation how-to-vote cards for Dickson had Dutton at number four, whereas the new ones have him at number two.
How times have changed since 1996, when John Howard disendorsed Hanson as a Liberal candidate and then placed her candidates last on Liberal how-to-votes in 1998. Hanson has helped to normalise racism and xenophobia in this country, according to scholarly analysis as well as the lived experience of many Australians.
Meanwhile, senior Indigenous medico Dr Louis Peachey has been reflecting on the Opposition Leader’s long history of doing an about-face.
Louis Peachey writes:
During Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s political career, his positions on Indigenous Affairs have involved more backflips than an evening at Cirque du Soleil.
He walked out on the Apology to the Stolen Generations, then later claimed to be sorry about that.
He was part of the Federal Cabinet who rolled the Australian Federal Police and the Army into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, to enforce the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response.
Then later, during the Voice referendum campaign, he went to the NT whining about the lawlessness of the children of an Intervention that he helped to create.
The 2021 Calma Langton Report about how to construct the Indigenous Voice was delivered to the Cabinet, of which he was a very senior government minister.
Then in an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2023, he claimed to have been left in the dark about The Voice details.
He complained the 2023 referendum had the wrong question. He promised that once he defeated the wrong question, as Prime Minister he would seek a referendum on the right question. Then he just walked away from this promise.
During the referendum for the Indigenous Voice, he undermined the Yes campaign, which was supported by the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with the slogan, ‘If you don’t know, vote No’.
But now in his campaign for the Peter Dutton Prime Ministerial Voice, he is asking the electorate to give him The Voice, without any detail as to how he will address the cost of living, housing supply, electricity prices, keep inflation tamed and create opportunities for our young people.
I was a very big critic of the anti-Voice campaign, ‘If you don’t know, vote No’.
But after seeing this man fail to address any meaningful policy detail on how he plans to use the Prime Ministerial Voice, I might backflip on my attitude to the winning slogan.
Meantime, see this explainer by Thomas Mayo.
Author details
Dr Louis Peachey is from Girrimay, Djirribal, Quandamooka and Badtjala ancestors. He is a highly respected Rural Generalist and medical educator, as well as a mentor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors and medical students. Founding president of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, he was awarded Life Fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), and was instrumental in establishing the College’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members group. He is based in the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland. Read more here and here.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the Voice referendum and health
