Meanness of Hanson menu bound to disagree with most

Pauline Hanson's ability to draw a paying crowd will count for little if she keeps threatening to take her bat and hard ball and go home.

By Paul Sheehan, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 May 2001

The food was cold and mean and shrivelled. More than 500 people turned up at a celebrity supper at Club Marconi last Friday and they were each served a plate of desiccated antipasto that cost the organisers $17 a head. It was beyond poor.

It was also prophetic. The big crowd had turned up to see and hear Pauline Hanson's latest foray into western Sydney. How many politicians could draw a big crowd willing to pay $25 for supper and a speech? Very few.

The evening featured a comedian/fire-eater, Irish dancers, a raffle, a dance band, and a speech by Pauline Hanson in this stronghold of the Italian-Australian community. It was largely about the contribution that immigrants have made to Australia.

Pretty innocuous. But not innocuous enough for Councillor Thang Ngo, a member of Fairfield Council, who had called Club Marconi to pressure management into cancelling the event. He had also called the local newspapers to criticise the club and called for boycotts if the event went ahead.

Apparently Thang Ngo, a Vietnamese immigrant and member of the Unity Party, could not see the hypocrisy of his actions. Had One Nation ever called for boycotts of clubs that served Vietnamese? "It's Australian to hold strikes and conduct boycotts," Cr Ngo told me yesterday. "The Vietnamese community don't understand this. They have never used their political clout."

He was not the only one to indulge in racial leverage. "We lost a table of Italian builders to thug tactics," said Lex Stewart, a former dux of The King's School who is now NSW secretary of One Nation. "They were told they would not be able to obtain concrete from a local concrete plant if they attended. They were intimidated."

The builders' table remained empty, but management at the big soccer club did not bend to pressure. The night went ahead. The bad food was served. Pauline Hanson spoke, without notes, in a quavering voice.

"How many of you have actually migrated to Australia?" she asked the room.

A sea of hands went up.

"Well, good on yer, mates. Because you came here to be one of us. But do you know what? If you don't come here to be Australian I'd be the first one to put you on the plane and wave goodbye and say 'See you later'."

Laughter, applause.

"Because that's what Australians are. We are united, and we are proud of our cultural background. We are a multi-racial country. But multiculturalism will destroy us."

Apart from the food, the night went well and Ms Hanson should have been celebrating this week.

Yesterday, three One Nation members, Frank Hoff, John Fisher and Paddy Emery, were sworn in as new members of the Parliament of Western Australia. But Pauline Hanson is not celebrating, she is imploding. Yesterday's ceremony in Perth was overshadowed by a pointless brain explosion.

On Monday she pulled the carpet from under the West Australian branch, where One Nation is now headquartered, by repudiating former Federal MP Graeme Campbell, who had been recruited to One Nation by the West Australian leadership to lead its Senate ticket at the coming Federal election.

But yesterday Ms Hanson told a Sydney radio station that if Campbell got the nomination over her objections: "If that is what they want and they believe he can do a better job than what I can, then I would consider going as an Independent."

These words were eerie given the conversation I had on Monday night when I received a call from her one-time chief operator and now chief enemy, David Oldfield. These are my notes from that conversation:

Oldfield: "WA is the last place she is not in conflict. The WA leaders are pretty independent and they are now in Parliament. If they don't do what she wants she'll probably threaten to resign. She has resigned about five times before."

Lack of space precludes describing the full magnitude of the ineptitude, gullibility, self-delusion and contempt for democratic process that Ms Hanson's outburst involves. I expect the West Australians will call her bluff.

We started this column with abject Italian food, so we'll finish on a more palatable note, with a lovely new American movie that is a homage to the cultural melting pot. It's called What's Cooking and it's delicious.