Australian Labor Party president Wayne Swan has warned that increasingly authoritarian trends in Australian politics must not become 'normalised', likening Pauline Hanson's attacks on multiculturalism and journalists to Donald Trump's hostile takeover of American civic life. Speaking to Labor's national executive on Friday, the former treasurer said the party must resist One Nation at the next election to prevent 'a dark, dystopic picture of the future' from becoming a reality.
Swan's warning against normalising extremism
'People shrug. It gets normalised. Then it gets implemented. Then it just exists,' Swan said. 'Now we can see the true nature of the threat we all face and we will not let it become the new normal. We will not shrug our shoulders.' He pointed to overseas examples, stating, 'In cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, where they have seen the national guard deployed against their own people.'
Hanson's policies under fire
Swan criticised Hanson's plans to shut down SBS, move the ABC to a subscription model, and push for Australia to be a 'monoculture.' He said, 'This was all bad enough. And then she revealed her true colours when the culture war camouflage faded and the billionaire agenda of her patron, Gina Rinehart came to the fore.' He added, 'Hanson said wage rises had gone too far. She said it was too hard for a boss to sack a worker. That the gender pay gap wasn't real. This is the thread that connects Rinehart, Hanson and Trump. Inequality lowers living standards. It poisons society. And then the power of big money threatens democracy itself.'
Labor's membership decline
Swan also noted that Labor's membership had dropped from almost 57,000 in 2022 to about 51,500 in 2024, describing the current target of 65,000 members by 2029 as essential. He is due to be succeeded as ALP president by former Gillard government minister Kate Ellis in July.
Political reactions
NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns called Hanson's prescriptions 'bullshit,' saying, 'I saw her on radio the other day saying “we don’t want sharia law, we don’t want multiple marriages, we don’t want gangs with machetes”, as if, if you support multiculturalism, you must be for sharia law. That’s complete garbage. It’s the sort of bullshit she’s been peddling for some time and it’s just not true.' Minns called for Labor to 'get in the ring' and fight for the success of modern, multicultural Australia.
