Media and political complacency is letting Pauline Hanson re-write the rules on accountability

Australian political party One Nation has barred journalists from multiple press conferences in recent months. The ABC was excluded from a May campaign event, then again from a Perth speech in June. Most recently, the ABC, The Guardian, and The Age were shut out of a Victorian state election candidate announcement. The Conversation reports that media outlets and political leaders have mostly responded with mild language—calling the exclusions 'disappointing' or 'unorthodox.' One notable exception: Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young called Pauline Hanson a 'political coward running scared of scrutiny.' Media watchers worry that as Hanson's polling climbs—with up to one in five voters expressing support—allowing her to control which outlets cover her sets a troubling precedent in a country without constitutional protection for press freedom. The question now is whether Australian media will treat this as the democratic crisis some see, or whether continued mild responses will merely normalize controlling the press.

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