Hanson’s One Nation Bounces Back to Draw Level With Labor as Albanese Slides to Post-2022 Low
Pauline Hanson has never needed Canberra's permission to dominate a news cycle, and her latest European summer proves it. Her One Nation party has clawed
Pauline Hanson has never needed Canberra's permission to dominate a news cycle, and her latest European summer proves it. Her One Nation party has clawed back support in the newest Newspoll, recovering ground lost in June to sit dead level with Labor at 30 per cent of the primary vote.
The exclusive survey, conducted for The Australian between Monday and Thursday last week and published on Monday, found Labor's core support slipping from 33 per cent to 30 per cent. That marks the government's equal lowest primary vote since Anthony Albanese won office in 2022. One Nation moved the other way, shaking off a two-point dip in June — when it slid from a record high of 31 per cent to 29 — to climb back to 30.
The timing is remarkable.
The poll was in the field precisely while Hanson was making headlines on the other side of the world, splitting her time between an Italian holiday and a visit to Britain. The trip generated controversy at nearly every stop — and, if the numbers are any guide, none of it stuck.
Fashion shows, billionaires and a far-right podcast
In Sicily, the senator took in a Dolce and Gabbana fashion show, where the celebrity guest list included Jennifer Lopez and footballer Erling Haaland. She was also spotted at an Italian resort in the company of Gina Rinehart, the mining magnate who ranks as Australia's richest person.
It was the British leg of the trip, though, that lit the fuse. Hanson sat down for a podcast with far-right British activist Tommy Robinson, where her remarks about the end of the White Australia policy drew immediate fire back home.
Voters, it seems, shrugged. The Newspoll suggests One Nation's base absorbed the headlines and came back for more — a pattern familiar to anyone who has watched Hanson's decades-long knack for turning outrage into electoral fuel.
A warning light for Albanese
For the prime minister, the figures are an uncomfortable milestone. A 30 per cent primary vote is territory no governing party wants to occupy, matched only by the worst readings of Labor's tenure since its 2022 victory — and now shared with a party long dismissed by the major parties as a fringe outfit.
For international observers, the result slots into a broader story: populist right-wing movements pressing establishment parties across Western democracies, from Europe to North America. Australia, it turns out, is no exception.
The survey also showed One Nation and the Coalition pulling back support despite political brawling that might have been expected to damage them — a sign that voter frustration is flowing in more than one direction at once.
The scoreboard now reads 30-all: a government at its equal lowest ebb, and Pauline Hanson's party right beside it.
