One Nation's stunning 1998 breakthrough

In its first campaign, the rightwing nativist party co-founded by David Oldfield and Pauline Hanson won eleven seats and secured nearly twenty-three percent of the primary vote in Queensland.

Oldfield's plan for minority government

David Oldfield says the plan was to form minority government. Instead, a newly elected independent from a previously Nationals-held seat backed Labor leader Peter Beattie into office.

“The plan was to form minority government”

Beattie's close call with One Nation

Peter Beattie says Oldfield's plan came within a whisker of fruition and could have proved an absolute watershed. Had Peter Wellington not backed Labor, the outcome would have been very different.

“within a whisker”

Labor's secret preference debate

Beattie reveals that sections of the Labor party thought they should exchange preferences with One Nation. He says everyone denies it now, but the internal pressure was real.

“But there were sections of the Labor party who thought we should exchange preferences [with One Nation].”

What Borbidge would have done

Rob Borbidge says if he had won the nineteen ninety-eight election he would have accepted confidence and supply from One Nation, but any minority government would probably have been short lived.

“They were not what you would call mainstream people”

Howard's different federal strategy

At the federal election months later, John Howard reversed the approach taken in Queensland and preferenced One Nation last. The party did not win a seat.

Oldfield's preference strategy failed

Oldfield says his plan for One Nation preferences to help the Coalition hold Springwood and Mansfield south of Brisbane was frustrated by One Nation candidates who rejected his suggestion to direct preferences to Liberal incumbents.

Mansfield decided by eighty-three votes

Both Springwood and Mansfield fell narrowly to Labor. Mansfield, the most marginal seat in the state, was won by eighty-three votes, giving Beattie a path to form government.

Oldfield's scathing 2019 memoir

In two thousand nineteen, Oldfield published Being David, writing that Hanson had failed miserably day after day and was frustrating to work with because she would not take constructive criticism or read anything.

“failed miserably, day after day”

Oldfield's dramatic reversal in 2026

Seven years later, with Hanson and One Nation resurgent in opinion polls, Oldfield strikes a different tone. In April he created a social media account to offer opinions on socio-political matters.

Oldfield's hope for federal power

Oldfield says there is a level of hope that One Nation can now achieve federally what it might have achieved decades ago. He would certainly vote for Hanson as prime minister.

“Change the landscape potentially forever.”

Jeff Knuth's brief parliamentary career

Jeff Knuth was the party whip when One Nation swept Queensland in nineteen ninety-eight. Within seven months he quit the party and joined the City Country Alliance, a short-lived splinter party led by Bill Feldman.

Knuth and Feldman reconcile with Hanson

Knuth now says he is proud of Pauline and happy for her. He and Feldman both see strong parallels between Queensland in nineteen ninety-eight and the political environment today, but say One Nation is now far stronger.

“Pauline is the same Pauline as back then but just wiser and smarter, and she's got the joys of social media.”

Disunity killed them then, Beattie warns

Peter Beattie says One Nation was a party of individuals all against something but not for anything. Disunity killed them in Queensland, and he thinks it will kill them again unless major parties address why supporters are doing it tough.

“Disunity killed them in Queensland”

Borbidge sees One Nation on steroids

Rob Borbidge says history is repeating itself, but this time One Nation is a bigger threat to all major parties because it is smarter, better resourced and employs far more sophisticated campaigning techniques.

“it's One Nation on steroids”