{"id":746331,"date":"2026-06-19T08:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T08:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746331\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T08:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T08:54:16","slug":"north-queenslanders-say-what-they-think-of-pauline-hanson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746331\/","title":{"rendered":"North Queenslanders say what they think of Pauline Hanson"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no shortage of people in north Queensland who are ready to throw their support behind Pauline Hanson, who a Queensland political analyst has labelled “populist”.<\/p>\n

But polling suggests it may be working.<\/p>\n

James Cook University political analyst Maxine Newlands said One Nation was “definitely in the ascendancy”.<\/p>\n

But she said people were willing to vote for One Nation and the minor parties because they were unhappy with the two major parties.<\/p>\n

Queensland was where One Nation first broke through, winning 11 seats in the 1998 state election.<\/p>\n

In the 2025 Hinchinbrook state by-election, just north of Townsville, One Nation’s vote nearly tripled, up 8.9 per cent to 13.5 per cent.<\/p>\n

Senator Hanson continued to receive a warm welcome this week when she reunited with mining billionaire Gina Rinehart in Townsville.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Gina Rinehart and Pauline Hanson reunited at a speaking event in Townsville. (ABC News: Chloe Chomicki)<\/p>\n

‘On the right track’<\/p>\n

Among those happy to see the One Nation leader in town was resident Lauren Mylonas, who said she wanted Senator Hanson to stand up to the major parties.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Marcia Hogan (left) and Lauren Mylonas believe Pauline Hanson is on the right track. (ABC News: James Tugwell)<\/p>\n

“She seems to be on the right track to get things going properly for Australia,” Ms Mylonas said.<\/p>\n

“She can be over the top with some things. You can’t say a lot of the things she says are OK but the majority of it sounds like she knows what she’s talking about.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Her sister Marcia Hogan agreed.<\/p>\n

“She’s very down to earth and I think she’ll do the country great,” Ms Hogan said.’Very sensible politician’\"A<\/p>\n

William McGann compared Pauline Hanson to politicians from the UK. (ABC News: James Tugwell)<\/p>\n

William McGann, who recently migrated to Townsville from the UK, said Senator Hanson was a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n

“From what I’ve seen on TV about Pauline Hanson, she’s a very sensible politician”, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McGann said Senator Hanson had a “common-sense attitude”.<\/p>\n

“She doesn’t mess about. She knows what people want,” he said.<\/p>\n

“She’s not interested in making people appreciate her just for the sake of it. She wants what’s right for the people.<\/p>\n

“She’s a breath of fresh air because most politicians now, they just want to serve themselves. She seems to be serving the people.<\/p>\n

“I hope she goes a long way.”<\/p>\n

But others disagreed.<\/p>\n

Populist and divisive<\/p>\n

The ABC spoke with several small business owners in Townsville who said they were uncomfortable speaking on the topic publicly for fear of backlash.<\/p>\n

Environmental scientist Jai Kaartinen-Price said most of his views were formed from what he had seen on social media.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jai Kaartinen-Price does not want to see One Nation wielding any major political power. (ABC News: James Tugwell)<\/p>\n

“I certainly wouldn’t like to see her get into power or have any major influence,” Mr Kaartinen-Price said.<\/p>\n

“From what I can gather, she’s not really likely to benefit people in my demographic, or the country.”<\/p>\n

He said it was too easy to blame minority groups for issues, saying “most of the time, problems are complex and nuanced”.<\/p>\n

“Her whole political strategy is divisive as far as I can tell. It seems to be in line with the populist politics that have been gaining popularity over the last \u2026 decade or so,” he said.<\/p>\n

Challenging Crisafulli<\/p>\n

Despite her gains in the Hinchinbrook by-election, Senator Hanson told the ABC it was too early to say if Queensland Premier David Crisafulli should be concerned about One Nation’s rise.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pauline Hanson’s speech was warmly welcomed in Townsville. (ABC News: Chloe Chomicki)<\/p>\n

“I don’t think he’s got anything to worry about at the moment. He’s got another two and a half years until the next election,” Senator Hanson said.<\/p>\n

“But, come the next state election, I will be standing candidates in every state seat.”<\/p>\n

She said the tide was turning and voters were making up their own minds and considering her policies.<\/p>\n

“People in north Queensland feel forgotten in many areas,” she said.<\/p>\n

“People are starting to say they want change and they don’t like the direction the country is going.<\/p>\n

“People want to be heard.”<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/p>\n

Gina Rinehart asked the crowd to make bulldozer sound effects. (ABC News: Chloe Chomicki)<\/p>\n

Discontent with major parties<\/p>\n

Senator Hanson addressed the National Press Club this week and released a 28-page manifesto.<\/p>\n

Dr Newlands described the address as “very Trumpian”.<\/p>\n

“Apparently, she’d been invited numerous times to talk at the Press Club but has always declined and has now decided to take it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s all part of this new shift, which is definitely leaning into populism and \u2026 not backing down from very strong policies around migration and other areas.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no shortage of people in north Queensland who are ready to throw their support behind Pauline…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,651,358366,358968,60501,44,26673,60504,14754,84,94,701,6649,358967],"class_list":["post-746331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-bulldozer","tag-david-cristafulli","tag-gina-rinehart","tag-news","tag-north-queensland","tag-one-nation","tag-pauline-hanson","tag-politics","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-townsville","tag-townsville-voters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}