Off the Rails: The Pauline Hanson Trip (2nd Edition)

By Margo Kingston, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2001, 243 pages, paperback, $19.95. Reviewed by Paul Reynolds in the Dec 2001-Jan 2002 issue.

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This book was widely and favourably reviewed when the first edition came out in 1999. Margo Kingston was one of only two reporters who was permanently assigned to Pauline Hanson's 1998 federal election campaign. This then is the story behind the story of how Hanson and One Nation fared. Although many other journalists flocked in and out of One Nation coverage as her comments and style inevitably provoked interest, the author was the one with continuity and has given a very perceptive account of her experiences.

The perspective the reader needs to bring to bear is that, in 1996 Hanson won Oxley as an independent but by 1998 was trying to win Blair, a newly created seat as Oxley had been redistributed against her. Amazingly she was not a senate candidate as this would have given her a clear victory. One Nation's senate candidate, Heather Hill, although winning, was barred from taking her seat owing to her dual citizenship. The number two candidate was then pronounced the winner and never heard from again.

However it is not Hanson-as-candidate that is Kingston's primary focus but Hanson-as-leader. Indeed Hanson was rarely in Blair as she was behaving as any fully fledged leader, barnstorming the nation, announcing policy and generally pressing the flesh, charming supporters and enraging opponents. But here is the critical difference. Other leaders are now so totally scripted, minded, kept under wraps and distanced from reality that the gladiatorial, presidential contests have an air of artificiality, an unreal and unrealisable attempt to connect leader to voter, perception to reality, image to truth.

None of this applied to Hanson in 1998. She was not cossetted, scripted or minded out of reality. She was on her own with a small group who had none of the media skills of the advisers with other leaders. These were amateurs trying to be professionals. The upside was that Hanson had far more contact with voters; the downside was that the campaign lurched from crisis to catastrophe as the leader and her people made it up as they went along. Had the egregious David Oldfield consistently been with her there may have been greater coherence but he was (as is now all too apparent) running his own agenda. So the leader batted alone and lost.

Kingston does more than provide an interesting chronicle. She discusses a central dilemma she faced. A journalist covering such an event has to keep his/her distance from the subject. That is easy to do for those on the Liberal, Labor or National caravans because access is screened, regulated, controlled. However in the Hanson case this did not occur. Not only did Kingston become much closer, Hanson often asked for advice, opinions, reactions. While Kingston had no time for Hanson's views, she tried for balance but this became harder as the campaign progressed, time lengthened and the women came to know each other better. Perhaps the book then was a way for Kingston to put the experience in perspective, for her readers, but more importantly, for herself.

She writes clearly and entertainingly. While it is a slightly off centre account of the 1998 election campaign (given the nature of her assignment) the theme of media/politician: journalist/leader relation is ongoing. This may well give greater durability to Off the Rails than one account of a previous election campaign.

Citation

• Paul Reynolds. 'Review: Off the Rails: The Pauline Hanson Trip (2nd Edition) by Margo Kingston' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), Dec 2001-Jan 2002. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 18 June 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• A look at the rise, fall and rise again of Pauline Hanson and One Nation, as well as the symbiotic relationship betweens politicians and the press.

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