A Timely Warning For Greens
Now that we are entering an election year with great hopes of success, it might be appropriate to take a close look at the political history of another populist movement that went “off the rails” during an election campaign to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen again to the Greens.
In her book Off The Rails: THE PAULINE HANSON TRIP, Margo Kingston gives an account of the One Nation election campaign in the 1998 federal election. She starts by giving a historical run-down of the rise of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party; a party dedicated to giving voice to the “disaffected right” of Australian politics. After the electoral successes of the Queensland state election of 1998 where the party picked up eleven seats off the coalition, followed by similar results in the West Australian state election, One Nation was on a roll. But could it keep up the momentum in the 1998 federal election?
As we know the election campaign turned out to be a disaster culminating in the virtual demise of One Nation as a political force. Margo describes the saga throughout the entire campaign as she covered the event for the Sydney Morning Herald. Day by day she describes the incredible disorganisation, petty egotism and backstabbing that went on within the party structure. There seemed to be no communication between the chief functionaries of the campaign committee. For example Margo points out the arrogance and duplicity of David Oldfield who thought and acted as if he was the true leader of the party. He was fond of making unilateral decisions without telling Hanson, let alone anyone else in the party. His relationship with the press was one of self-aggrandisement at the expense of party policy promotion.
Hanson was completely out of her depth. She hadn’t a clue as to how to run a campaign, deal with the media or to enunciate policy. There was total disorganisation every step along the way, with opportunities being squandered on a daily basis. According to Margo, the campaign was so poorly organised that the whole thing became a farce. So, what started out to be a magnificent opportunity to put real pressure on the major political parties ended up in complete disarray. This was probably a good outcome for Australia, but it highlighted the problems facing grass roots popular movements when dealing with serious politics on a national level.
I am not suggesting that the Greens are anything near the rabble of One Nation, but it is important to bear in mind what can happen when a movement gets side tracked from the issues at hand and degenerates into sheer emotionalism. The Greens are a highly organised and issues based party with a tremendous amount of energy. But so were the Australian Democrats until ego and self-importance acted to ruin that party. It’s food for thought.
I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the dynamics of the electoral campaign process should read this well written book. I also encourage the reader to follow Margo Kingston’s Webdiary on the Internet at www.smh.com.au/news/webdiary . Anyone who is familiar with this brilliant (and brave) journalist will vouchsafe my opinion.
Off The Rails is published by Allen and Unwin and can be purchased at any good book shop for around $22.
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