by Jerry Zhu & Daniel Y Teng – ONE Nation’s rise is a rejection of progressive-Left ideology, according to Author Kevin Donnelly.
He said decades of cultural change have left many Australians feeling disconnected from traditional values, creating a “groundswell of anxiety” that is now being reflected at the ballot box.
- Marxist thinkers shifted their attention from economic revolution to cultural change.
- This is more dangerous because it enforces mind control, groupthink and indoctrinates young people.
- Australians are now enduring a “groundswell of anxiety”.
At the 2025 federal election, One Nation drew just 6.4 per cent of the primary vote.
The most recent Roy Morgan poll shows 24 per cent of respondents now intend to vote for One Nation, higher than the once centre-Right Coalition (23.5 per cent) and 3.5 percentage points shy of Labor’s 27.5 per cent.
GLOBAL SHIFT
Dr Donnelly, author of Wake Up To Woke: Why Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party Is So Popular, points to a global shift that has largely occurred in the United States and Europe, until now.
“Australians are fed up with all this politically correct woke ideology, whether it’s gender fluidity, whether it’s climate alarmism, whether it’s having three flags instead of one, whether it’s undermining Western culture,” he told The Epoch Times this week.
Donnelly characterised the progressive influence as “cultural Marxism” – a phenomenon that has been occurring over the past 40 to 50 years.
He says that after the communist revolution failed to gain support in prosperous Western democracies, Marxist thinkers shifted their attention from economic revolution to cultural change.
“What these Marxist academics argued – associated with the Frankfurt School in Germany – was that the best way to overthrow Western culture, Christianity, religion, capitalism, was to take control of schools, universities, trade unions, the media, even the family and political organisations,” he said.
“Cultural Marxism is not as physically violent, but is probably more dangerous because it enforces mind control, groupthink and indoctrinates young people in particular.”
PROBLEMS
Dr Donnelly says recent economic problems have meant Australians are now enduring a “groundswell of anxiety”.
“The past 10 or 15 years have been quite difficult in terms of the cost of living,” he said.
He pointed to difficulties for young people entering the housing market, as well as rising energy costs.
Immigration and multiculturalism are other factors he has identified.
He acknowledged that migration had contributed positively to Australia but said many One Nation voters were concerned about the speed and scale of arrivals, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Pauline Hanson has been a strong critic of multiculturalism,” he added.
“I disagree with what she said about being a monoculture, but multiculturalism is an issue that people are concerned about.”
One Nation Senator Sean Bell said in an interview with News24 (previously Sky News) that the Party believed multiculturalism was not working.
“One Nation is adamant that we should have one Australian culture,” Senator Bell said.
At the core of that, it is protecting and restoring traditional Australian values. And one of those is ensuring that our national language English is the dominant language of this country.”
Bell stressed that the Party was not against multilingualism, but that government services should be delivered in English.
The March 2026 publication by ANUpoll reveals about 70 per cent of 3662 Australians surveyed believed border control was a key issue and responsibility of the government.
More than half (55.3 per cent) of respondents said cost of living was a key concern.PC
