My other car is in arrearsBY THE standards of Australian politicians, Colin Barnett has lasted several lifetimes. Four prime ministers and crowds of state premiers have come and gone since he first took the reins in Western Australia in 2008. But his winning streak is expected to end on March 11th, when his right-of-centre Liberal party is likely to be trounced in a state election. Polling suggests that 57% of the vote will go to the opposition Labor party.
In a normal year the rest of Australia would barely notice. Western Australia is the source of much natural gas and iron ore, but is sparsely populated and three time zones removed from Sydney and Canberra. The election is drawing national attention, however, thanks to the resurgence of One Nation, a nativist party that briefly flourished in Queensland in the 1990s. It won four seats in the Senate at last year’s federal election. Since then its leader, Pauline Hanson, a former fish-and-chip-shop owner, has seen her popularity soar. In Western Australia she is fielding almost 50 candidates (there are 95 seats in the two chambers of the state parliament) and has struck a...Continue reading
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