Hanson's return

A little over a year ago I blogged on Pauline Hanson, former chip shop owner and federal MP for the seat of Oxley in Queensland, leaving Australia for Britain because she was done with Australian politics and as she saw it the country was no longer the land of opportunity. Needless to say I thought this was pretty funny.

Pauline, love, if you think Australia is over taxed and over regulated just wait till you get off the plane at Heathrow. It'll all be downhill from there because the country is, not to put too fine a point on it, fucked and all the main political parties - nanny statists to a man mong - see taxing people as the solution. Also your feelings about migrants are going to be, erm... how shall I put this... challenged, and since you will be one yourself bitching about it will be batting a very sticky wicket.

I also said it'd be a good idea for her to buy an open return ticket, and she appears to have done so since she's now come back again.

... she later reversed her decision, announcing last November after a trip to Europe that Britain was worse than Australia and "full of immigrants and refugees".

Hate to say I told you so, Pauline, but I told you so, though since about a quarter of people in Australia were born elsewhere it's still rather less full of immigrants than Australia is. Still, she came back, which I missed at the time, and the only reason I've noticed now is that she's also changed her mind about being done with Australian politics.

The former One Nation leader has nominated to run for the NSW Upper House in a bizarre twist ahead of this month's state poll, but both state Labor and Liberal parties have today said they will not support her with preferences.

And really nothing about this, not her return to Australia and politics or the main parties not giving her any preferences, should be any surprise. Nor is this reaction:

Though I think she's not wrong on all issues (very few people are - even Gordon Brown probably didn't manage that) on balance I'm not a Pauline Hanson fan, but even if you disagree with everything she says and think she's simultaneously the most despicable person in the country and an irrelevant idiot isn't it going a bit far of 853 people to say she shouldn't be allowed to stand? What the fuck, folks? Like it or not she's an Australian citizen and entitled both to her opinions and the support and votes of anyone who agrees with her. Democracy, and last I checked this is one, isn't about just letting people you approve of stand for public office. For good or ill everybody gets a say, and if you don't agree with someone you're supposed to explain why.

So just because it'll annoy 853 people who think that someone with her views shouldn't be allowed to stand I'm glad Pauline Hanson is going to be on the ballot. But I'd hope the voters of New South Wales find more liberal candidates to vote for.