Controversial Queensland senator Pauline Hanson campaigned in Mandurah on Monday morning, bringing her unique brand of retail politics to voters on the Eastern Foreshore, at the Mandurah Forum and at Meadow Springs Shopping Centre.
Ms Hanson, who was supporting One Nation’s Mandurah candidate Doug Shaw, stopped traffic on Mandurah Terrace, pressed the flesh with patrons at Deano’s Cafe and was bailed up by shoppers seeking selfies.
The charm offensive was the beginning of a week long tour of Western Australia ahead of Saturday’s state election and Ms Hanson said her campaign style had a personal touch that was missing from the aloofness of the major parties.
“Those people want to talk to me, they feel I’m approachable, and I think people know I’m there for the right reasons,” she said.
“I’m not a career politician, but I really care about this country and I really care about them.
“They see politicians come out of the woodwork at elections – same old electorate, same old promises – but they want a connection, they want a connection with their politicians.
“They want true representatives that are there for them and not these career politicians who are only in it for a white collar job for the next three years who say ‘I’m getting this, I’m going to get this out of it’. They're sick of it.”
And voters appreciated the attention.
One Nation supporters Tony and June Brown said they didn’t like all of Ms Hanson’s policies, but they liked that she was keeping the major parties accountable to the people.
Mr Brown was carrying a photo of himself taken with Ms Hanson in 1998 and was hoping for another.
“What she said when she came here 18 years ago was, ‘I’m here to keep the bastards honest’ and they back-pedalled when she first popped her head up and I think they panicked then and I think they’re panicking again,” he said.
“She’s got a lot of good policies and wants to impress the good old Australian way, that’s the way I look at it.”
Chris Quirk, another well-wisher who approached Ms Hanson, said he appreciated she had come to Mandurah even though he had voted for Mandurah MP David Templeman.
He slammed the leaders of both major parties for not spending enough time in Mandurah.
“That shows disrespect for us and no concern, I believe,” he said.
“Why not take the time? If you want our votes, come and see what’s going on? We’re a very vibrant city, there’s a lot of things happening and they should be down here to oversee and see what’s going on and what our concerns are.”
Mr Quirk said he was going to vote for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation until she announced the preference deal with the Liberal party.
“Before Pauline Hanson said she would give her preferences to the Liberal party, we were going that way, but as soon as she said that, I’m sorry, a vote for Pauline would then keep the man in power and Colin Barnett we do not want to keep in power,” he said.
“It’s gone away from the old days when the Liberal party was for business people and the Labor party was for the working people, they’re now both the same.”
Although Ms Hanson would not be drawn on federal issues, she did continue the defence of her party’s preference deal with the Liberals and blasted Labor, accusing them of misrepresenting the arrangement.
“Politics is a dirty game and the biggest issue I’m hearing about from the people is that they think my preferences are flowing to the Libs and I try to explain to them that, ‘no, you own your preferences’,” she said.
“If anything, Labor are lying about this because on their how-to-vote tickets, their preferences are flowing to the Libs before us. Now here they are, they’re supposed to have opposite views, opposite policies, and yet Labor’s preferences are flowing to Libs, to Barnett.
“So, Labor is preferencing Barnett because they’re putting One Nation last. So, they are liars, they are cheating the people, they cannot be upfront and honest, and do people really want them?”