Populism didn’t arrive in Australia with a bang. It crept in through pub conversations about housing costs, through factory towns that watched their industries pack up and leave, through the creeping sense that the people making decisions in Canberra had stopped listening somewhere along the way.
It’s easy to think of populism as a European or American problem. But Australia has its own version, and it’s been simmering for decades.
The most obvious example is Pauline Hanson. When she launched One Nation in 1997, much of the political establishment dismissed her. That was a mistake. She was tapping into genuine frustration among Australians who felt left behind by economic change and disconnected from mainstream politics. However, while those frustrations were real, Hanson’s response often relied on blaming migrants and minority communities for problems that were far more complex. Her repeated attacks on immigration and multiculturalism helped normalise the idea that newcomers were responsible for economic and social pressures, despite little evidence that migrants were the root cause of issues such as housing affordability, stagnant wages, or declining public trust in institutions.
That void hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s grown. Globalisation delivered real gains for Australia trade, growth, cosmopolitan cities but the benefits didn’t land evenly. Regional towns that lost manufacturing jobs didn’t get a lot of consolation from GDP figures. When people in those communities hear politicians talk about “economic opportunity,” it can feel like a private joke they weren’t let in on.
Immigration is where things get especially complicated. Australia is genuinely one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world that’s not spin, it’s sociology. Migrants have played a central role in building Australia’s economy, workforce and cultural identity. Yet populist politicians have frequently portrayed immigration as a threat rather than a strength. Figures such as Hanson have built political support by framing migrants as competitors for jobs, housing and public services, even though these challenges are more directly linked to policy decisions, infrastructure planning and broader economic trends. Such rhetoric may generate headlines, but it risks fostering division and resentment in a society that has largely benefited from diversity.
And then there’s the trust problem. Australians have become increasingly cynical about politicians and honestly, it’s not hard to see why. Scandals, broken promises, leadership instability (remember when Australia went through five prime ministers in about a decade?), and the persistent sense that both major parties are managed by the same consultant class with the same talking points. When people feel like the system is rigged or simply indifferent, someone promising to blow it up starts to sound appealing.
Social media has supercharged all of this. It lets populist figures speak directly to supporters without any filter, no journalist asking awkward follow-ups, no editorial board pushing back. The downside is that the same channels that spread genuine grievances also spread misinformation and oversimplified explanations for complex problems.
So what do we make of all this? Populism is not going away. Dismissing every populist voter as racist or ignorant gets us nowhere it ignores the real frustrations underneath and hands populist leaders exactly the narrative they want. But that doesn’t mean populist claims should escape scrutiny. When political movements direct public anger towards migrants and minorities rather than addressing structural economic issues, they risk deepening social divisions without offering meaningful solutions.
The more useful question isn’t whether populism is good or bad. It’s why it keeps finding an audience. Until mainstream politics offers something more convincing than management-speak and five-point plans, it probably will. But Australia’s future will be stronger if legitimate public concerns are addressed without resorting to scapegoating the very communities that have helped build the nation.