Fed: Voters no longer interested in Hanson: Howard

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2006
Fed: Voters no longer interested in Hanson: Howard

By Jade Bilowol and Nick Butterly

BRISBANE, Dec 8 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard believes Australian voters are no
longer interested in Pauline Hanson and her anti-immigration outbursts.

Mr Howard today dismissed the former One Nation leader's plans for a political comeback,
saying he believed she would be unsuccessful at next year's federal election.

Ms Hanson is unsure whether she'll run for the Senate or the lower house.

A decade after the right-wing firebrand warned Australia was in danger of being swamped
by Asians, she has now targeted "black south Africans" and Muslims.

Ms Hanson said Africans should be barred because they brought AIDS into the country.

She also said she was angered by the loss of Aussie traditions because of Muslims.

When asked if Ms Hanson would be successful again at the polls, Mr Howard replied:
"I don't think so, but that will be for the voters.

"I don't believe that people are very interested in what she is saying now," Mr Howard
told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

He said while he was critical of "zealous multiculturalism", he didn't believe people
should be singled out for their race or religion.

Other mainstream politicians were equally dismissive of Ms Hanson and her political ambitions.

Federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey also said the public response to Ms Hanson's
initial comments that won her a federal seat in 1996 had worn off.

"I think what people need to realise is that you can come up with some superficial
words, but when you dig a little deeper and find out what her policies might be, many
Australians would disagree with them as they have at a number of polls to date," Mr Hockey
told the Seven Network.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd agreed, saying Ms Hanson had failed to come up with any
solutions to what she perceived as problems.

"I think Mrs Hanson has in the past always been good at identifying what she sees as
being problems but I've never seen Mrs Hanson come forward with any practical solutions
for the long-term," Mr Rudd said.

However, renegade Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said while he didn't necessarily
agree with her controversial views, she had "every right to say them".

"I think she's got every right to get out there and make a statement," the Queensland
Senator said.

He refused to join her political detractors and criticise her, saying he actually admired
her confidence to speak her mind.

"I think I understand totally where she's coming from when people try to get stuck
into her and that's why I'm not going to start doing it," Senator Joyce said.

However, he said Ms Hanson had to back her explosive statements up with fact.

He also disagreed with her comments that politicians criticised her because they were
envious of her publicity.

"I don't think anyone's jealous of her," Senator Joyce said.

In her five attempts at getting elected since March 1996, Ms Hanson was only successful
on the first occasion when she became the independent MP for the Queensland federal seat
of Oxley.

She failed to win the neighbouring seat of Blair in 1998 and lost two subsequent attempts
to win Queensland Senate seats.

AAP jvb/sc/jt/de

KEYWORD: HANSON NIGHTLEAD (FILE PIX)

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