AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 1770244531834785218.jpg
This image has been sourced from publisher's website
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Please Explain : The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Pauline Hanson
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In 1996, Pauline Hanson gave a speech that changed Australia. Attacking Asian and Indigenous people and foreign aid, Hanson unleashed a Pandora’s box of violence and division on the progressive country Prime Minister Keating had positioned as ‘part of Asia’. After her famous defeat in 1998, her political downfall seemed assured – but she stayed firmly in the spotlight, whether she was being locked up for electoral fraud or jiving on Dancing with the Stars. Now, after almost two decades in the political wilderness, Hanson is back and more powerful than ever. Before One Nation’s astonishingly successful return to Australian politics in 2016, multi-award-winning filmmaker Anna Broinowski had complete access to Hanson and her ‘Fed Up’ election campaign. Broinowski followed Hanson as she flew from Rockhampton to Sydney to Great Keppel Island and beyond in her Jabiru two-seater. The crazies, the madness, the division and the hatred Hanson attracts and inflames were all on show – sometimes funny, sometimes frightening, and often surreal. At the time, no one was taking Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s political chances seriously, but Broinowski quickly realised that there was a movement forming behind her. Pauline Hanson’s explosive political journey mirrors Australia’s own: from left-leaning multiculturalism, to the divided landscape we live in now. And, alongside the shocks of Brexit and Trump’s presidency, Hanson's resurrection reflects a broader global trend towards outrageous far-right outsiders.' (Publication Summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Where Are the Great Women? A Feminist Analysis of Australian Political Biographies Blair Williams , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 23-37)
'As women have become more visible in the Australian political sphere, the volume of writing about their lives, careers and experiences has also increased. This has brought to light certain challenges and shortcomings, as well as enduring discursive biases in the existing literature. Political history, for example, and especially political biography, has generally ‘privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions’, telling the stories of so-called Great Men while excluding those who do not traditionally belong to this cohort. Any attempt to summarise the current state of biographies written on Australian political women and to assess the extent to which these can be improved must therefore address several overlapping lines of inquiry, the four most fundamental of which have been chosen for discussion in this article. First, I will provide an overview of the institutional and discursive masculine biases of political biographies in general. Second, I will outline the state of biographies written on women politicians, noting the lack of such texts and an increasing turn towards autobiography. Third, I compare two recent biographies on women politicians—Anna Broinowski’s Please Explain (2017) and Margaret Simons’s Penny Wong (2019)—to demonstrate how a tendency towards excessive personalisation can become problematic. Lastly, by exploring feminist approaches to political biography, I provide a working definition of feminist political biography and propose a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for those political biographers who seek to develop a more inclusive model.' (Introduction)
Tracing Pauline : Two New Books of One Nation Shaun Crowe , 2017 single work single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 397 2017; (p. 11-12)

— Review of Please Explain : The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Pauline Hanson Anna Broinowski , 2017 single work biography

'More than any other political party in Australia, One Nation represents a puzzle for commentators. When trying to explain its support – which has hovered around ten per cent since its revival in 2016 – the temptation is to look for subtext, something deeper, beneath the surface. Could the party’s cultural pitch really be a code for economic concerns, with immigration a metaphor for the genuine fear of international competition? Perhaps we are witnessing a new political coalition of those ‘left behind’ by social change, bound together by a suspicion of everything cosmopolitan. Or is One Nation simply a vehicle for those pissed off at a stagnant political order, hoping to unseat and humiliate its representatives? What really motivates the mythical One Nation voter?' (Introduction)

Ups and Downs of Persistent Pauline Ross Fitzgerald , 2017 single work review essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 September 2017; (p. 21)

'Anna Broinowski’s revealing documentary Pauline Hanson: Please Explain! ran on SBS television a year ago. Throughout 2015 the award-winning filmmaker had unfettered access to Hanson and her Fed Up campaign, as Hanson attempted to win a Queensland Senate seat at the 2016 federal election.' (Introduction)

Tracing Pauline : Two New Books of One Nation Shaun Crowe , 2017 single work single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 397 2017; (p. 11-12)

— Review of Please Explain : The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Pauline Hanson Anna Broinowski , 2017 single work biography

'More than any other political party in Australia, One Nation represents a puzzle for commentators. When trying to explain its support – which has hovered around ten per cent since its revival in 2016 – the temptation is to look for subtext, something deeper, beneath the surface. Could the party’s cultural pitch really be a code for economic concerns, with immigration a metaphor for the genuine fear of international competition? Perhaps we are witnessing a new political coalition of those ‘left behind’ by social change, bound together by a suspicion of everything cosmopolitan. Or is One Nation simply a vehicle for those pissed off at a stagnant political order, hoping to unseat and humiliate its representatives? What really motivates the mythical One Nation voter?' (Introduction)

Ups and Downs of Persistent Pauline Ross Fitzgerald , 2017 single work review essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 September 2017; (p. 21)

'Anna Broinowski’s revealing documentary Pauline Hanson: Please Explain! ran on SBS television a year ago. Throughout 2015 the award-winning filmmaker had unfettered access to Hanson and her Fed Up campaign, as Hanson attempted to win a Queensland Senate seat at the 2016 federal election.' (Introduction)

Where Are the Great Women? A Feminist Analysis of Australian Political Biographies Blair Williams , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 23-37)
'As women have become more visible in the Australian political sphere, the volume of writing about their lives, careers and experiences has also increased. This has brought to light certain challenges and shortcomings, as well as enduring discursive biases in the existing literature. Political history, for example, and especially political biography, has generally ‘privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions’, telling the stories of so-called Great Men while excluding those who do not traditionally belong to this cohort. Any attempt to summarise the current state of biographies written on Australian political women and to assess the extent to which these can be improved must therefore address several overlapping lines of inquiry, the four most fundamental of which have been chosen for discussion in this article. First, I will provide an overview of the institutional and discursive masculine biases of political biographies in general. Second, I will outline the state of biographies written on women politicians, noting the lack of such texts and an increasing turn towards autobiography. Third, I compare two recent biographies on women politicians—Anna Broinowski’s Please Explain (2017) and Margaret Simons’s Penny Wong (2019)—to demonstrate how a tendency towards excessive personalisation can become problematic. Lastly, by exploring feminist approaches to political biography, I provide a working definition of feminist political biography and propose a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for those political biographers who seek to develop a more inclusive model.' (Introduction)
Last amended 3 Sep 2018 13:59:34
X