Tensions between Pauline Hanson and her beleaguered One Nation senator Rod Culleton have been on open display this week, raising the question of whether the party will be able to hold it all together.
Michelle Grattan tells University of Canberra vice-chancellor Deep Saini that it’s going to be quite hard for Hanson to keep her senators well disciplined.
“At the same time it’s obvious that both sides of politics are now really fearing Pauline Hanson’s electoral power. We heard George Brandis caught on an open mic telling the Victorian Liberal president that One Nation really was going to be quite significant at the next state election [in Queensland] and I think that both sides of politics feel that,” Grattan says.
“You have this paradox in a sense – rising importance of One Nation electorally but difficulties in keeping the show together in Canberra, in the Senate, where of course it’s also powerful.”