Sunday, 24 August 2003

Australia's answer to Pat Buchannan (or, perhaps, to David Duke) began a three-year sentence for election fraud this week: Racist xenophobe Pauline Hanson, founder of the anti-immigrant One Nation Party, filed a fraudulent petition and claimed almost AUD$500,000 (USD$325,000) in campaign funds from the government. To get on the ballot in Queensland, a party must show it has 500 dues-paying members; Hanson just listed 500 names from her Rolodex, which the courts decided wasn't quite good enough.

Back in 1998 One Nation racked up 10% of the national vote and 25% of the Queensland vote, much to the embarrassment of everyone else; they still have a few Members of Parliament to their name, if I'm not mistaken, although they've declined quite a bit from their peak. Oz actually has room for more than two political parties in its system, which means you get more (real) choices on the ballot—but, also, that the voices from the fringe are a bit louder.

Although the majority of Australians loathe Pauline, a surprising number of people think her sentence was too harsh: The "person on the street" view here is that prison is for locking up dangerous people, not loud (but ultimately harmless) buffoons. Many Australians thought Pauline should have paid a fine and done community service, rather than having the state pay $50,000 a year to lock her up.

- Posted by Scott Forbes at 8:41 am. comments.