Far-right parties are gearing up for a big run in the upcoming Victorian state election after their leaders took comfort in a rising share of the vote in the federal poll on May 21.
The former United Australia Party (UAP) leader, who narrowly won a Senate seat despite a massive $60 million advertising budget, views it less as a disappointing indictment of the political right’s strategy and more as a confirmation of his ideas.
“It could have been a lot better,” said Craig Kelly, who suggested that his party, One Nation and the Liberal Democrats (anti-mandatory parties, some group like a “freedom movement”) were spreading too thin and less than 11 percent Of the votes.
“In many cases, the preferences of the so-called freedom parties flowed more strongly towards the major parties than the smaller parties,” he said.
“In some cases, our campaigns hurt the wider cause.”
Mr. Kelly, a former dissident Liberal MP, lost his seat in Sydney’s south Hughes but says trying to promote tactical cooperation on the right will be a focus of his new aim as head of the UAP organization – a role he expects to appreciate.
Craig Kelly says political issues still run strong in his blood.
“I feel that political issues are still very much in my blood. I have the pleasure of saying, ‘I told you so,’ he said.
†[I was attacked] the past two years for misinformation, but I was 100 percent right.”
The Greens received about 1.8 million votes nationwide, for which they managed to secure six seats in the upper house; with less than 1.6 million, the freedom parties just fell short, with two.
Glenn Druery, a political strategist known for manipulating preferential currents in the Senate, says the right has squandered opportunities.
“Could they maintain the balance of power?” he said. “Easy”.
But University of Canberra researcher Jordan McSwiney notes that a marginal gain in the parties’ collective votes was pumped by One Nation’s decision to contest every seat in the House of Commons and the culmination of rejection from the major parties.
awkward allies
dr. McSwiney says there should be no suspicion that supporters of these parties are a natural voting bloc; he says a recent attempt to bring them together has failed spectacularly.
“A UAP Coup of the One Nation Constituency” [was] exactly what they were trying to do in 2019 when they relaunched as the United Australia Party,” he said.
“They’ve been trying quite actively to poach that constituency since day dot and haven’t succeeded in any meaningful way.”
One reason is that smaller parties seem to thrive on strong leaders (Mrs. Hanson is the president of One Nation for life), and neither UAP nor the Liberal Democrats are spoiled for choice.
“Even looking at One Nation’s 30-year history, for 20 years, give or take, without Hanson, they were electorally irrelevant,” he said.
An unfriendly consequence is that big egos don’t work together easily.
Mr. Druery believes that long before long-term electoral strategies have been successful, an upcoming Victorian state election will be a magnet for a new wave of far-right parties and leaders.
“Some of these new players are potentially very dangerous.”
Whether they can hold up in the November poll, he said, will conclusively test whether they have an electoral future.
Entrepreneurs on the fringes of politics have had rare opportunities and relevance in the past two years.
Right-wing groups used the Melbourne protests to fuel sentiment. Photo: Getty
Protests against the lengthy lockdowns in Victoria lasted for months and targeted the state parliament. Right-wing political groups used them to sell a classic message about the scope of government.
Nazis were among those eager to mix their messages with those of protesters.
Among the other new parties moving forward are the Great Australian Party, backed by former bankrupt and troubled One Nation Senator Rodney Culleton, and the Australian Federation Party, which opposes mandates and reproductive choices.
Melbourne’s most high-profile anti-lockdown activist, Monica Smit, who was incarcerated for sedition, is also in the mix.
The Victorians is another party founded from closed opposition but on otherwise flexible ideological foundations.
Friendly press and own polls have suggested the party could win 10 seats, but the alarm bells don’t seem to be ringing yet on Spring Street.
A new breed?
A source said a former Queensland Coalition State MP, Aidan McLindon, had recently acted as an intermediary between interests.
Mr. McLindon helped Bob Katter launch his party before joining Family First and starting his political adviser.
He was contacted early Tuesday night for comment but had not responded through publication.
Mr. Druery says he previously had a morality-free view of elected politics and did not often reflect on his personal history of putting “some eclectic people in parliament”. (The early innovation of the Outdoor Recreation Party dragged NSW voters along with corrupt MP Malcolm Jones.)
But he says the effects of exclusionary politics have begun to preoccupy him in recent years, though he doesn’t believe he has changed alone.
He predicts that disorganization will limit the far right’s electoral impact and that their campaigns could still wreak havoc.
“Do I regret helping some of those candidates in the beginning? Sure. I’ve learned? Yes. But did they keep me up at night? No,’ he said.
“But this new crop knows nothing about the game’s rules.”
