Just this morning the Courier Mail reveals that Pauline Hanson befriended prison inmate Fay Cramb and helped her with her parole application. Cramb notoriously tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered 12 year-old Sunshine Coast school girl, Sian Kingi. That’s right, Hanson has gone from advocating mandatory detention for aboriginal kids who commit theft to early release for murderous sexual predators – a clear case of “who you know”.
The Courier Mail plays this story appropriately, placing it prominently, but not too prominently, in the extreme right hand column with only a black and white photo of the little girl over it. It’s a statement of fact, not an attempted king hit. Hopefully issues like this and the other complications and stupidities that always seem to follow in Pauline’s train will make electors rethink their surge of enthusiasm for her. As Peter Costello said the other day – the only way to beat One Nation is by arguing policies, not personalities. He might have also added “and talking about the facts”.
If the One Nation resurgence continues until the next state election it will be a huge problem for the Opposition. Peter Beattie will have only one simple message that he needs to sell – “The choice is between a Labor Party, which can govern, or a cobbled together alliance made up of One Nation, the Nationals and the Liberals which can’t.”
So what does Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg decide to do today? Does he allow the public the cogitate on the revelations of Hanson naivety and duplicity while her vote ebbs away thus improving his election chances? No, you guessed it – he calls for a Royal Commission into the conviction and jailing of Hanson and Ettridge. If Pauline Hanson doesn’t know how to maintain her martyr status, Lawrence is going to help her along.
Some people just don’t have the instincts for politics. On this issue, one who does is Ron Boswell. The Opposition needs to have a One Nation exermination squad in its campaign strategy, and I can’t think of a better person than “Bos” to head it up.