I was both saddened and appalled to arrive at my regular, long-standing cafe in Mullumbimby to find a large meeting of One Nation members and supporters taking place.
According to a Facebook post, this was to be followed by a small business visitation to nearby shops, which I also witnessed.
Mullumbimby and the Byron Shire have long been vibrant and inclusive communities with a reputation for socially and environmentally progressive activism.
One Nation distracts from the deeper structural flaws in our society and advances a simplistic narrative that pits (white) ‘Aussies’ against ‘woke’ and ‘immigrant’ others.
They don’t actually have solutions to the housing crisis or growing socioeconomic inequity, or any of the serious challenges that Australia is facing.
Right-wing political parties like One Nation (and other fascist, neo-Nazi ethno-nationalist groups) have strategies to grow their party base and gain electoral influence.
These include preying on people in financial hardship, the disenfranchised and those on the left with an understandable distrust of government.
Declining trade union membership, the spread of neoliberalism, the growing cost of living and rampant inequality underpins the distraction and hostility towards establishment politics.
The rate that these tactics seem to be succeeding is terrifying, and the rise of One Nation can no longer be ignored.
So which political party can step up to the challenge that has failed the mainstream, business-as-usual parties?
Surely only the Greens and independents can challenge the rapidly rising scourge, starting in the Byron Shire.
Freedom of speech and political opinion isn’t a one-way street, and licence to preach hate; nor does it force others to listen to it, or prohibit criticism or ridicule of these harmful views in the public domain.
Don’t forget that One Nation is still climate denialist, anti-renewable, pro-coal, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-Trump, and have over two decades of racist policies and ideas.
The fact that Pauline Hanson dines with Gina Rinehart tells you whose interests she is serving, and on which side of the political aisle she sits.
Pauline is not a working class hero, she is a political opportunist working to advance her narrow agenda.
To be silent is to be complicit.
For those who think One Nation is the answer, I say to them: you don’t eat dog shit just because you don’t like broccoli.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
