Denise’s Desk: Is This Really What New England Voted For?

When Pauline Hanson says she “stands up for ordinary Australians,” it sounds familiar. Comforting, even. But in politics, words are cheap. Votes are not.

And when you look closely at One Nation’s record in Parliament — what they oppose, what they block, and who they align with — the truth is confronting.

New England is not a slogan. It is people.

Tamworth and Armidale are built by hospitality workers pulling doubles, nurses holding hospitals together, aged care staff working back-to-back shifts, teachers and SLSOs keeping classrooms afloat, truck drivers keeping shelves stocked, farm workers feeding a nation, and contractors piecing together livelihoods week to week.

People here know insecure work because they live it.

Yet One Nation has repeatedly voted against the very people who keep this region running.

They opposed Same Job Same Pay laws — allowing labour-hire workers to be paid less for doing the same work. That matters in our abattoirs, on farms around Manilla and Barraba, on construction sites across Tamworth and along the New England and Newell highways.

They voted against stronger casual rights, against gig-economy protections and against transport worker safety laws — in a region that quite literally lives and dies by the road.

In one particularly shameful deal with the Liberals in 2021, One Nation backed a move that stripped mineworkers of around $16 million in accrued leave entitlements. Money earned. Money owed. Gone.

This is not anti-establishment politics. It is anti-worker politics.

They have opposed minimum wage increases and penalty rates — a direct hit to incomes in cafés, pubs, retail, hospitals and aged care facilities across our towns. They have opposed strengthening Medicare in a region already struggling to see a GP. They have voted against disability reforms and women’s safety measures in communities where services are already stretched thin.

Again and again, when the choice is between protecting people and playing politics, One Nation chooses politics.

And now the hypocrisy has reached its most disturbing point.

In the wake of the horrific Bondi attack — and amid a surge in antisemitism that has shaken Jewish communities across Australia — the Albanese Government recalled Parliament to introduce stronger hate-crime protections.

Guess what – One Nation has announced it will oppose them.

After weeks of shouting that Labor was “doing nothing,” they walk away the moment real laws are put on the table.

Worse still, before the nation had even begun to grieve, the tragedy was stripped for parts — harvested for outrage, mined for fear and repackaged as political content. What should have been a moment of collective mourning was instead dragged into the gutter of culture-war politics.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. This moral panic is coming from Pauline Hanson and the political brand she leads — a movement synonymous with manufacturing division, scapegoating minorities and demonising those who have come to this country seeking safety, opportunity or a better life. Australians have not forgotten Hanson’s infamous maiden speech claiming the nation was being “swamped by Asians.”

And Barnaby Joyce, now effectively marching in lockstep with One Nation, has used the moment to push culture-war theatrics — including criminalising the burning of the Australian flag. It was straight out of the Trump playbook: exploit tragedy, inflame emotion, wave a symbol and pretend it’s leadership. It had nothing to do with community safety and everything to do with chasing outrage, clicks and attention.

To posture now as guardians of social cohesion is not just dishonest — it is grotesque.

When grief becomes a political prop and fear becomes a strategy, that is not representation. It is recklessness.

And here is the truth New England deserves to hear: this brand of politics does not build towns, lift wages, improve hospitals or make communities safer. It corrodes trust, cheapens tragedy and leaves nothing behind but division.

We are better than imported grievance politics. Better than stunts. Better than politicians who mistake noise for strength.

New England deserves leadership — not a local franchise of the Trump politics Australians rejected for good reason.

Pauline Hanson does not represent the values of this region. And Barnaby Joyce can no longer pretend that he does either.

So, before anyone flirts with One Nation, ask one simple question: Can you name one thing Pauline Hanson or One Nation have delivered — for New England, or for Australia? Can you name one policy?

Because anger is not a policy. Outrage is not a plan. And grievance is not leadership.

And it is worth asking, plainly and without apology: Is this really what the people of New England voted for?

Denise McHugh is an experienced educator in Tamworth. She is Chair of the NSW ALP Education and Skills Committee and Deputy President of the Independent Education Union (IEU). 

Read more from Denise here

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