Yes, Pauline Hanson’s voters are struggling with economic pressures. But blaming migrants won’t ease their pain

‘For as long as she has been in public life, Hanson has made no secret of her hatred for non-European migrants … What’s different is that there is much greater mainstream appetite for her views,’ writes Sisonke Msimang. Photograph: Jesse Thompson/Getty Images

In 2017, when I had only been living in Australia for a few years, Pauline Hanson came to my neighbourhood. The event was billed as “Pots and Pizza with Pauline at the Paddo”. About 200 people turned up to listen to her speak, and a similar-size crowd gathered outside holding protest signs and likening her to Donald Trump. Twenty police officers showed up in 11 police cars. A few days later, my daughter ran over to one of our neighbours’ houses for a play. When I walked in there later to get her, there were One Nation pamphlets on the counter. “You went?” I asked. I was hoping (desperately) that her friend’s dad had gone as a protester. “Yeah,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I thought it would be good to hear what she had to say.”

Amid all the political punditry about the One Nation win in Farrer, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that, for those on the receiving end of One Nation’s grievance politics, this all feels really personal.