A big orange bulldozer is ploughing its way through the political arena

Link copiedShareShare articleWelcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House. Four years ago, Australians decided they didn't want a bulldozer for a prime minister. But now if Gina Rinehart has her way, a big orange one will be ploughing her way through the political arena. On Thursday the billionaire stood on the stage at a forum in Townsville, calling for Pauline Hanson to join her as she revved up the crowd. "Elon Musk was given a big chainsaw to try and cut government tape and bureaucracies over in America. We need more … We actually need a beautiful, big fat … we need an orange bulldozer," Rinehart declared. Gine Rinehart had an interesting gift for Pauline Hanson on Thursday. (ABC News: Chloe Chomicki ) A helper handed Hanson a large toy-sized bulldozer. Then she asked the crowd to growl with her, simulating the machinery engine. Rinehart has already given Hanson a lot recently, including generously gifting access to a private plane, along with multiple donations. The embracing of the bulldozer moniker is a long way from when Scott Morrison's self-described bulldozer tactics turned off voters in 2022. But times have changed. And as Hanson said in her first address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, they've changed to suit her. The 72-year-old One Nation leader had previously declined several Press Club offers to appear. But with her ascendancy in the polls, it was now or never. She rolled in with a 28-page manifesto and declared Australia should be a monoculture, that public broadcasters should be scrapped, migration slashed, and industrial relations laws overhauled. Hanson was, in her words, "defiant". After years of being cast off to the fringes of politics, she had scores to settle. She described herself as a "bloody old elephant" as she vowed she wouldn't forget what had been done to her in the past. "Every attempt has been made for years to silence me. In fact, there are always some people, usually a lot of people, who get offended by what I say or do, even offended by my very existence," she said. "I don't fear it. I embrace it." This is a politician who knows a lot more than she did 30 years ago about what works for her. Hanson got personal with a reporter from the Guardian, and told another from the SBS she'd be out of a job because she wants to shutter the public broadcaster and wind back the ABC to a subscription model in urban areas. But the real drama came when a screen unfurled behind Hanson mid-speech, calling out her record on workers rights. Progressive activist group GetUp! had installed the banner the previous day. Hanson turned back to look at it. She paused briefly, looked back down to her speech and smiled. The next day her team changed her social media profile picture to the image GetUp! had photoshopped of her in sunglasses. Once a pest of the political arena, GetUp! has been awfully quiet over the past two election cycles — a phase kicked off by a failed bid to unseat Peter Dutton back in 2019. By the next election, Climate 200 entered the space and GetUp! slid into the background. In the meantime, Advance (an attempt at a conservative counterpart) emerged. Earlier this year, GetUp! hired former journalist David Sharaz as part of its rebuild. He was in the room during Hanson's speech. The stunt only distracted from the substance of Hanson's speech. Her address, while big on vibes, lacked any detailed policy and was full of contradictions. But Hanson argued she doesn't have to have the answers now. She said she supported working Australians, but pointed to businesses that say some of them are lazy, and it's too hard to fire them, suggesting balance needs to be tipped back in their favour. Hanson is also interested in having a discussion about paid parental leave and said childcare subsidies were out of control. Pressed on her position on abortion, Hanson would not nominate an appropriate gestational limit for abortions but said she opposed terminating a pregnancy "the day before birth", something that is exceedingly rare and impossible without advice from two doctors in most of the country. The senator said she still supported late-term abortions if the mother's life was in danger. Much like a nun in the seminal classic The Sound of Music, all sides of politics are trying to respond to the question of how to solve a problem like Pauline. For GetUp! it was the banner stunt. Before that, it had spent $600,000 in the Farrer by-election to try and stop One Nation's David Farley from being elected. It didn't work. The drama from the banner has brought the progressive group back into the frame — which, cynically, was surely part of its aim. Sign up to the ABC Politics newsletter with Courtney Gould The government's approach so far has been to focus on what it's done, contrasting that against the little Hanson has achieved in her parliamentary career. In recent weeks, it

A big orange bulldozer is ploughing its way through the political arena

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