Pauline Hanson just dog whistled to entire Chinese Australian community by refusing to name the Japanese PM whilst correctly naming the Chinese President. Very Clever.
Whether intentional or not, Hanson’s asymmetry in a Sky News interview is a textbook dog whistle to 1.3 million Chinese Australians living in the swing seats that decide federal elections.
Pauline Hanson on Sky News with host Chris Kenny. © Sky News Australia
In a recent interview on Sky News with host Chris Kenny, Hanson was asked to name the leaders of Australia’s two most important neighbours. She named the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, immediately and correctly. The Japanese Prime Minister’s name she could not produce.
A dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition from others. The signal is clear to the intended audience and invisible to everyone else.
Whether intentional or not, the moment reads as a political dog whistle directed squarely at the 1.3 million-strong Chinese Australian community – a community that has historically leaned right and is concentrated in the swing seats that decide federal elections.
These are not safe seats for any party. Chisholm changed hands twice in two elections. Bennelong is a national bellwether. For a politician courting a community that has felt lectured about loyalty and foreign influence for years, knowing who runs China but not Japan communicates something about where your attention, and your sympathy, sits.
Chris Kenny did not follow up on the gap. The interview moved on. But the clip stayed.
