ONE NATION MLC Philip Scott says a WA Socialists protest at the launch of his party’s Fremantle branch has backfired – turning a quiet event into a national headline.
“Thanks, folks. Keep protesting,” Mr Scott said after about 25 Socialist protesters attended the opening of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Fremantle branch last Saturday, which he said delivered “massive national coverage” for the party.
Mr Scott said his Facebook page would typically attract between 30,000 and 40,000 views.
However, he said a reposted image of graffiti from the protest — reading: “Fuck One Nation. No racists in Freo! Fk Hanson” — received more than one million views, which he attributed to publicity generated by protesters opposing One Nation.
“Because of the protests… we had people coming out and saying they were going to support us now,” Mr Scott said.
Historically, both the federal and state seats of Fremantle have been strongholds for the Labor Party, with only a brief period of Greens/independent representation at the state level.
Fremantle, which has been shaped by migrant communities and houses one of the most environmentally conscious federal seats, contrasts with One Nation’s policies of reducing immigration and scrapping the net-zero target.
However, Mr Scott said the party was not targeting Fremantle specifically but instead One Nation intended to run candidates in every federal seat and “wasn’t trying to provoke the local people who vote otherwise”.
“You had the Orange people in Fremantle 40 years ago.
“This is a new orange movement and we’re very confident that we will have a good presence in Fremantle,” Mr Scott said.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is expected to visit Perth on Wednesday for a sold out “sundowner” in Midland.
The event intends to connect people to their One Nation representatives.
But, the party anticipates this event will also attract more protests.
“If they want to protest Pauline’s visit it just galvaniszes our support base and brings on extra support for us because people reject that sort of confrontational politics,” Mr Scott said.
“[People] just want to sit round the table and have a discussion rather than be labelled a racist or a bigot.”
WA Socialist secretary Vashti Fox said people are becoming more “concerned about the rise of the far right across the world and in Australia”.
She said the group felt it was “really important” they publicly demonstrated and opposed One Nation’s “divisive politics” in both Fremantle and at Ms Hanson’s visit.
“Fremantle obviously has a long history of trade union activism and organising and supporting the rights of the underdog and of people who are often not supported by the rest of society,” Ms Fox said.
“We were certainly not seeking to shut down their meeting or stop it from happening.
“They’re more than free to go ahead with their meetings, and we have every right to raise our collective objection,” Ms Fox said.
On Ms Hanson’s visit to the state on Wednesday, Ms Fox said she expected a large turnout of protesters.
She said this was based on door-knocking in working-class areas, where she spoke with migrants in Cockburn who reported feeling scared and lacking confidence.
“They feel like there’s a rising tide of animosity towards them for things that they didn’t cause, like supermarket prices or the housing crisis or whatever it might be.
“What we are hoping to do is to give them confidence that they have every right to be in Australia. They make Australia a better and richer place,” Ms Fox said.
The Herald reached out to the Fremantle organiser of the launch, vaccine safety campaigner Dominique Mimnagh, but she did not respond before deadline.
by ISLA TOMLINSON