George Christensen has never been one to turn down an opportunity for attention and his surprise tilt at reelection for One Nation is further proof of that.
On Tuesday the former Queensland Liberal-National Party member for the seat of Dawson told the media that he was back-pedalling on his promise that kicked off a year-long John Farnham-esque retirement tour. Immediately people started to wonder about the political implications. Christensen is a high-profile political figure and his defection, depending on where he chooses to stand, could have an impact on the election.
Contesting Dawson could imperil a safe Coalition seat and test whether the voters of Dawson are loyal to him or the party. One Nation has already chosen a candidate for Dawson — but that could be changed. The fringe party hasn’t selected a candidate for neighbouring seat Herbert, which has led to speculation that he could stand there.
Standing to be a One Nation Queensland senator would be a tough ask — being elected from the third spot on the party’s ticket at a half-Senate election would be nearly impossible even for the Florida of Australia — but would certainly make Pauline Hanson’s life a lot more comfortable by bolstering the party’s upper house vote.
Taking Christensen at face value, however, is always ill-advised. There are two other reasons why he has decided to run for Parliament without expecting to be reelected: money and attention. And what the latest instalment of “the George show” reveals is just how he continues to exploit our weaknesses and worst instincts for his own personal gain.
Christensen stands to gain more than $100,000 if he runs for reelection. Sitting MPs who are defeated at an election or unendorsed by their party are given a taxpayer-funded “resettlement allowance” equivalent to 12 weeks’ pay. Earlier this year, Christensen tried and failed to get the LNP to disendorse him. Standing for One Nation, even if he loses, will guarantee that he gets that six-figure payout.
His announcement also guarantees more eyeballs. When news came out this morning, I and hundreds of thousands of Australians got a push alert about the news. All major Australian news publications have prominently covered the decision. Is there another backbencher government MP in this Parliament who’s been the subject of more headlines?
This is just the latest example of Christensen abusing the weaknesses of the media for a spectacle. Although he is a prolific social media user and influencer (more on that shortly) his biggest ally in the search for attention has always been the mainstream media. Case in point: his reelection announcement came first to The Courier-Mail. He still hasn’t published about his new tilt to social media. While he has blasted the “mainstream” and “corporate” media as is the convention for any conservative politician these days, they have been his best friend throughout his career — promoting his many antics and making him a household name. The media in return has benefited, with clicks, comments and retweets.
What’s the purpose for all this attention now? Well, attention is money in the time of social media. Back when he first said he was going to retire, Crikey predicted that he would try to become a professional political influencer and that’s exactly what he’s done. After dumping plans to spruik books from Amazon on social media for a cut of the sale when Crikey spotted this behaviour, he’s started up again. Christensen’s latest media venture is a news aggregator website, launched this week, where he’s selling advertising. Every eyeball he gets is a potential sale or metric to sell to prospective advertisers.
(Just on his new website, a surprise wrinkle: I’m told the AEC is looking into whether he’s breached electoral laws for political content without an authorisation. Oops!)
The most repulsive aspect of all is how over the past two years Christensen has sought to take advantage of the fear, insecurity and hatred of Australians to grow his social media following in the pursuit of enriching himself. He’s built up hundreds of thousands of followers across Facebook, Telegram and his mailing list spreading COVID-19 fearmongering and conspiracy. He has undermined his own government’s attempt to vaccinate Australians to save lives. He has actively courted and amplified people with some of the most damaging views in Australia. This has cost us: both figuratively and, in the case of $20,000 of taxpayer money spent promoting his newsletter this month, literally.
Truth be told, Christensen has always talked a big game but never followed through. None of his various culture war, anti-vaccine or vaccine-related stunts have led to any legislative change. Other Coalition members with similar, wrong views about COVID-19 and vaccinations have put more skin in the game than Christensen.
Craig Kelly left the Liberal Party over his beliefs halfway through a term. Christensen only resigned after his last sitting day when it didn’t matter. Senators Alex Antic and Gerard Rennick both withheld votes from the government over the vaccine mandate. Christensen said the mandates would force him to vote with his conscience — it just so happened his conscience was always aligned with the government and didn’t cause it any headaches. It was a stunt, as it always is with him. Actual ideological conviction would mean sacrificing something for the benefit of others, something that Christensen is loath to do.
A hint hiding in plain sight about how he thinks about his political future is evident on his new website. Between buttons promoting the various platforms that he uses to spew bullshit, he starts his bio off with three telling words: “Former Australian politician.”
Let’s hope it stays that way.
