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Pauline Hanson has just done something Anthony Albanese and Andrew Hastie may not have expected.
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Albanese → publish → something
Her apologies today were somewhat grudging and qualified, arriving only after a bruising public backlash.
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apologies → qualify → backlash
They weren't what you might call unreserved contrition.
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you → call → what
Nonetheless, by expressing regret Hanson has moved to neutralise the most damaging argument being deployed against her rise: not that One Nation's policies are wrong, but that its leader is too abrasive to be trusted with leading the country.
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leader → express → country
That was the clear theme of Albo's emotional response after Hanson criticised his late mother's decades in public housing.
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Hanson → criticise → housing
'Kindness isn't weakness,' the PM said.
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PM → say → ?
'Tell you what's weak: nastiness and spitefulness.'
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what → tell → nastiness
Hastie reinforced the point, declaring Hanson unfit to be prime minister.
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Hanson → reinforce → point
One Nation is enjoying unprecedented support and presenting itself as a genuine alternative to the collapsing major party duopoly.
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Nation → enjoy → duopoly
The closer it gets to power, the harder it becomes to excuse missteps with the excuse they are just Pauline being Pauline.
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they → get → excuse
To be sure, Hanson has endured decades of lazy demonisation.
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Hanson → endure → demonisation
Concerns she raised about high immigration, Indigenous policy failures, government waste and a political class detached from ordinary Australians were regularly dismissed as beyond the pale before the major parties adopted watered down versions of each of them.
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parties → raise → them
Pauline Hanson's apologies today were somewhat grudging and qualified, arriving only after a bruising public backlash.
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apologies → arrive → backlash
They weren't what you might call unreserved contrition.
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you → call → what
Nonetheless, by expressing regret Hanson has moved to neutralise the most damaging argument being deployed against her rise - that she's too abrasive
That history explains why her supporters rally whenever journalists unearth another old recording.
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journalists → express → recording
But past unfairness doesn't make Hanson right today.
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Hanson → make → ?
Her comments about Albo's mother were a classic example of a defensible policy argument being undermined by a badly chosen target.
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comments → undermine → target
Hanson's broader point was that public housing should provide a hand up to people in need, rather than automatically becoming a home for life.
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housing → provide → life
With long waiting lists and Australians sleeping in cars, it is entirely reasonable to debate whether tenancies should be periodically reassessed so scarce homes go to those who need them most.
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who → sleep → them
But Maryanne Albanese was the wrong person to target.
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Albanese → target → ?
She was a single mother with severe rheumatoid arthritis who relied on a disability pension much of her life.
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who → rely → life
She wasn't a politician and, having died in 2002, couldn't answer back.
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She → die → 2002
Whatever anyone thinks of the PM's repeated references to his housing commission upbringing, Hanson using his late mother was unnecessary.
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using → think → mother
Albo was entitled to defend her, and Hastie was right to say mothers should be left out of political combat, even if they get strategically deployed by a PM building a narrative.
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they → entitle → narrative
Nobody should be ashamed of needing public housing, but needing it is not, in itself, a virtue.
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needing → need → itself
Presumably he meant he was proud of the community that raised him and what he overcame.
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he → mean → what
But it doesn't answer the question Hanson clumsily raised about whether public housing should invariably amount to lifetime tenure.
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housing → answer → tenure
In a sense the way she worded her point helped him get around it.
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him → word → it
Hanson's response: 'if he's taken offence to that, well, I'm sorry', was hardly a full throated apology.
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I → take → that
It was similar to Albo's apology for saying he'd like to shag Kylie Minogue.
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he → say → Minogue
If offence was caused, he's sorry, and now so is Pauline.
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Pauline → cause → ?
Her remarks about Indigenous Australians left less room for sympathy.
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remarks → leave → sympathy
Calling them the 'most primitive race on Earth' and saying they had 'achieved nothing' wasn't plain speaking.
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they → call → nothing
Hanson's explanation is that she was comparing Indigenous societies at the time of British settlement with the industrial and technological development of Europe, rather than describing Aboriginal Australians today.
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she → compare → Australians
Indigenous Australians survived and adapted across a harsh continent, developing systems of kinship, land management, navigation and culture.
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Australians → survive → kinship
To reduce all of that to 'nothing' is plainly wrong.
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reduce → reduce → nothing
The Prime Minister with his mother, Maryanne Albanese
There was a legitimate argument Hanson could have made.
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Hanson → be → mother
Decades of spending haven't eliminated appalling disadvantage in remote communities.
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Decades → eliminate → communities
Governments should be held accountable, and questions about school attendance, violence, incarceration, welfare dependency and whether assistance should be allocated according to race or need shouldn't be declared off limits.
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assistance → hold → limits
Many Australians support Hanson precisely because she refuses to look away from realities more polished politicians discuss in euphemisms.
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politicians → support → euphemisms
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
