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Sue Green

When voters in Australia's northern state of Queensland go to the polls on June 13, the One Nation Party started by the country's most controversial politician, Pauline Hanson, will face its first test at the ballot box.

 The election is tipped to be a cliff-hanger and some polls are declaring that One Nation, which has its strongest support in Queensland, may emerge with the balance of power in the state.

 But as important as the votes its candidates win for themselves are those its losing candidates pass on to others under the preferential voting system.

 Just who gets One Nation's preferences, not only in Queensland but in the federal election which could be held as early as next month, is an issue which is dividing parties and which looks set to deprive Prime Minister John Howard of his power base in Australia's Chinese community.

 Hong Kong-born Helen Sham-Ho Wai-har, a Liberal member of the New South Wales Upper House and Australia's first Chinese MP, says Mr Howard's refusal to stand up to Ms Hanson even if it cost him votes, meant Chinese voters 'now don't have confidence in the Liberal Party'.

 So serious is that lack of confidence, she believes 'unequivocally' that the loss of Chinese votes will cost the Howard government dearly at the ballot box.

 For while federal opposition leader Kim Beazley has stated his Labor Party will place One Nation last on the how-to-vote cards which parties give their supporters and which many supporters follow to the letter, Mr Howard has refused to take the same stand.

 Aware that One Nation voter preferences could save Liberal and National Party candidates in marginal seats, Mr Howard has said the party will decide the issue on a state-by-state or even a seat-by-seat basis.

 'Most of the people who are attracted to Pauline Hanson are not any more racist than you and I,' he said in a recent interview.

 Ms Sham-Ho says that Chinese voters gave him a second chance when he won back the Liberal leadership in 1995, in spite of inflammatory remarks he had made in 1988 about Asian immigration to Australia.

 Now, though, they are deserting him: 'I don't think he made good on that chance,' she says. 'They were already ambivalent about him and the fact that he delayed his response to Pauline Hanson's maiden speech really upset them.' Although Mr Howard later criticised Ms Hanson, his criticism was not sustained and strong, Ms Sham-Ho says.

 'So they [Chinese voters] were still suspicious, but in the past 12 months he has not made any headway in that direction and the confidence just went.

 'Really, with the question of preferences and all, he has not come out to say, 'We are not going to give preferences to One Nation' - and Beazley has - so they now don't have confidence in the Liberal Party.'  Chinese supporters will, however, attend the A$1,000-a-head (HK$4,800) function she plans for Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock in July, despite cuts to immigration, because 'we can see his sincerity'.

 'I know what it is like to be one voice in the wilderness and he tries.'  Ms Sham-Ho is angry and sad at what has happened in Queensland. With Premier Rob Borbidge's Liberal-National Coalition running neck-and-neck with the opposition Labor Party, Mr Borbidge is actively courting One Nation preferences.

 Some polls have shown One Nation winning up to four seats - sufficient to hold the balance of power in the absence of a clear-cut result.

 One Nation says it has endorsed candidates in about 50 of the 89 seats and has a good chance of winning 13. Mr Borbidge has conceded One Nation will get 'a reasonable percentage' of the vote in some parts of Queensland and is a threat to his government, but has said he does not believe One Nation will win a seat.

 He has warned that the preferences of One Nation voters could decide the outcome and called on them to give the Coalition parties their preferences.

 The Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils (FECCA) has accused Mr Howard of failing as a leader for allowing his party to direct preferences to One Nation.

 Vietnamese Community of Australia president Cuong Vo too has called on Mr Howard to speak out about what is happening in Queensland: 'If he does not speak out the majority of the Asian community will think that he supports Pauline Hanson and what she says,' he said.

 Raymond Deng, editor of Australia's largest Chinese language daily, the Chinese Herald, has called on Mr Howard to 'stop what is happening in Queensland', saying the main parties have a responsibility to put One Nation last on how-to-vote tickets.

 But with staying in power the name of the game, the hurt and anger of these communities appears unlikely to hold sway. At stake are marginal seats which may be held or fall on the preferences of those who put One Nation first. Ms Sham-Ho, 10 years in parliament this year, says it has been a sorry lesson for her: 'In a way I see politics is a dirty game. I did not know that before, but I know it now.' 



One Nation, one headache for Howard