Last week Australia had a glimpse of what life might be like under Prime Minister Pauline Hanson, via two speeches, one in Canberra and one in Townsville.

Seven years since losing his seat in ignominious circumstances, Tony Abbott has returned from his long penance in the wilderness of Sky News and CPAC to become the latest president of what remains of the federal Liberal Party. He was elected unopposed after Alexander Downer withdrew.

In the kind of move that Labor once derided in their opponents, the government used the cover of the federal budget – while most journalists were literally locked up – to deliver its response to the late Peta Murphy's report into online gambling, 'You Win Some, You Lose More'.

A few weeks ago a trans woman told me she was a big Pauline Hanson supporter. WTF. How can a trans woman feel she is anyway represented, or safe, with One Nation? The same woman who teamed up with Holly Valance to release a parody version of Valances’ previous ‘hit’ (can we even call it that?) that mocks poor people, LGBTQ+ youth, women and the trans community.

Last week, Australian senator Pauline Hanson stood up in President Trump's gold-encrusted palace in Florida and said it was wonderful to be in America with a 're-energised, strong and patriotic leader who has the best interests of his people at heart', before attacking her own country's immigration, climate and native title policies.

Tired of being out of the political spotlight, Barnaby Joyce has declared he won't re-contest his New England seat at the next election, supposedly due to dissatisfaction with his party's leadership, but he hasn't yet quit the Nationals, or responded definitively to speculation that he's joining Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

Othering is about separating human groups into the familiar and the different, family and foreigner, migrants and locals, us and them. It's a way of excluding, marginalising and denigrating people. Politically, othering is an ancient strategy which has been particularly useful for populist leaders seeking to distract or unite their followers.

Visitors to Pauline Hanson's website are being redirected to the Refugee Council of Australia this morning.

Former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, is alleged to have written a personal dedication to One Nation’s Pauline Hanson in a copy of his autobiography My Awakening. An Echonetdaily reader recently found the handwritten note in a copy of the book in a second hand bookshop in Ballina.

At the Byron Writers Festival last week, American satirist P J O’Rourke was a star drawcard, but the more he spoke the less drawn the crowd got.