Is One Nation the worker’s friend? Or a fully owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart, as Jim Chalmers suggested?

There is a right-wing populist surge across the world - in the US (MAGA), UK, Italy, France, Germany and Australia.

John Menadue

There is a common feature in this surge. Many people feel that they have been ’left behind’ by wealthy elites, and the failure of mainstream political parties like the Liberal Party and the ALP. ‘The system is working for them but not us!’ They have channelled this ’left behind’ resentment by supporting populist leaders, who tap into their resentment, but offer them little to address their real concerns.

They are being misled.

Much of the populist language, that plays into this resentment, blames migrants, Asians and Muslims. Who could forget Pauline Hanson’s “How can you tell me there are good Muslims?” comment

It is a common feature of the human condition that the outsider can so easily be made a scapegoat. And that is what One Nation is doing.

Populous leaders are invariably funded by wealthy private and corporate interests. As a result, these populist ’leaders’ espouse policies that serve the interests of their wealthy donors, rather than working people and voters they attract. That is the story of One Nation. The structural power of capital now runs most western societies. One Nation is a useful cog in that wheel.

One Nation attracts people whose security has been undermined by housing shortage and high rents, costs of health care, wage suppression and casualisation of labour.

What is different about One Nation in Australia today is that that is that it is quite brazen about what it is doing in siding with the rich and powerful. They is no longer any hiding of their affliiations.

Pauline Hanson’s is a fulsome supporter of Donald Trump. She draws parallels between herself and Trump, noting that they both faced intense media scrutiny, and were both subjected to political and legal persecution early in their careers.

SBS gave us a revealing account of her political creed in a speech she gave to the Conservative Politician Action Conference (CPAC) conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Miami in November last year. Away from parliament for two weeks, Senator Hanson was flown to the US in Gina Rinehart’s private jet to address CPAC. She stayed at Gina Rinehart’s Palm Beach mansion.

In her speech, Pauline Hanson gave fulsome support to Donald Trump. She commended Trump for having turned the US around. She added “it’s wonderful to be in America with a re-energised, strong and patriotic leader who has the best interests of his people at heart”. She praised border security, migrant deportations and tariffs as key achievements of the Trump administration. She labelled climate change as the “greatest hoax" and urged Australia to walk away from the Paris Agreement on climate and ditch commitment to the net zero by 2050. She argued that the push for renewables is destroying our standard of living. She backed AUKUS and supported increasing defence spending to 5 per cent.

Not content with jetting to Miami on Gina Rinehart’s aircraft, she was delighted with a further Rinehart gift to One Nation of a $2 million Cirrus G7 aircraft and millions of dollars in donations from Rinehart associates.

The Australian trade union movement has highlighted One Nation’s hostility to Australian workers. Recently in social media posts Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary, Sally McManus, has noted the number of times Hanson has voted against improvements to worker’s conditions, including opposition to penalty rates and criminalising wage theft. McManus emphasised the role of Gina Rinehart, amongst big business leaders, who fought laws to give pay rises to labour hire workers. “One Nation sided with the wealthy elite and not struggling workers” she said.

Grahame Kelly the General Secretary of the Mining and Energy Union has also highlighted One Nations attacks on Australian workers: “One Nation have consistently used their position in Parliament to vote against laws that support permanent jobs and pay raises, including Same Job, Same Pay for labour hire workers and stronger rights for casuals.

“Same Job Same Pay laws were introduced as part of Labor’s Closing Loopholes legislation, which also contained critical worker protections including making it easier for casuals to become permanent, stronger delegates rights, better right of entry laws to stop wage theft, and ensuring workers don’t go backwards during enterprise bargaining. One Nation voted against it all.” he said

One Nation is funded and supported by wealthy and powerful business interests. It serves the rich and powerful. It will do little to seriously address real concerns about cost of living and housing rents. Apart from indexation, there has been no increase in Job Seeker payments for three years. Does Gina Rinehart have the One Nation supporter in mind, a single mother with children, who has to live on $433 per week.

One Nation used to hide its links to the rich and powerful. Now One Nation is quite brazen about it. Pauline Hanson said the plane gifted by Gina Rinehart was “quick, sexy and amazing”.

One Nation does not even bother to hide the reality that it is a fully owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart.

One Nation pretends that it is all for battlers - when it is really in the pocket of billionaires.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/05/468783-2/

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