The self-employed are eyeing One Nation

We currently see One Nation support dropping a little – good. So, here is a message that will be hard for Labor and Liberals to take or even understand. They’ve got to turn their back on the ruling class and the ideologues. They’ve got to engage with the middle class and community - with small and medium businesses and their employees.

The independents also need to walk the streets and visit every small business they can - those business people will likely be very busy without time to talk but leave your details anyway - they’ll be impressed someone cares. So will their employees.

As I look at the rise of One Nation and the concern from the major parties, it reminds me of one of our more feted Prime Minister’s John Howard, who actually lost his seat in the Kevin07 election.

Around 55% of the self-employed folk voted left in that election. Some 19% of the voters in Mr Howard’s electorate of Bennelong were self-employed and most, obviously, didn’t vote for him. John Howard was famous for caring for small businesses and battlers. What happened?

The end of the Howard government was helped along by its laissez-faire economics. For example, while Coles and Woolies and the big end of town was looked after, small business was given lip service - small business people eventually saw through that.

The self-employed would now be looking at federal Labor and seeing no value in them or what they do. They see the government is almost conducting class warfare and is looking after their own vested interests, mainly the unions but also some of the biggest businesses that kowtow to those unions.

Why would the tradies and traders vote for a government that doesn’t care about them?

And they look at the Libs and see a dysfunctional party. The self-employed know the danger of dysfunction - it is never conducive to business growth or workplace safety.

The self-employed include quite a lot of swinging voters and I believe they are looking at Labor and the Liberals and saying - we’ve had enough of you lot.

So back to One Nation. There are over 2 million self-employed out there, they vote and many seem to be looking favourably at One Nation. The small employers provide work to between four and five million other people. So, do employers in small workplaces have influence on how their employees might vote?

In a small workplace employees are very close to their employer. They can tell when their employer isn’t happy and is worried or concerned. They see it right in front of them. And it makes them worried too because they depend upon that person for a job and an income.

Labor governs federally, and in Victoria, because every time the Libs look like they might come close, they go off on some strange ideological tangent that attracts attention but not votes.

But now One Nation is achieving poll levels never expected. Most people know that One Nation is not in possession of a deep, meaningful policy agenda, yet that’s not what people are looking at - they are being driven there by a lack of trust in the major parties and lack of action that supports them. Actions that also fail to support their families, their employees and their customers.

They see One Nation as getting in the face of the ruling class.

The Libs, Labor, the Greens and the unions are the ruling class along with the big banks, Coles and Woolworths, mining companies and so forth. Small and medium businesses and their employees are not part of the ruling class.

So, you lot from Labor, the Libs and Greens - come in close and listen - you’re only engaging with yourselves, stop it.

The Libs need to go back to what Menzies said and did. Don’t engage with laissez-faire economics, which is just lazy and unfair economics where the big end of town gets the support and the rewards while the rest of us get the crumbs. Rediscover small business - as Senator Andrew Bragg said recently at a press club address “small businesses are people”.

Labor’s primary vote is at an historically low level, if they want to keep preferences heading their way, then they should listen and listen good. Embrace small business. Embrace the tradies and traders. Embrace those who drive their own trucks. Embrace those on the high street.

Embrace them, because they employ an awful lot of people. And those people are looking at their boss right now thinking they don’t look very happy.

One Nation would definitely not be good for the economy, but the majors need to engage with more than mirrors or that is what we might get.

Unless strong community focussed independents can get the balance of power? Let’s hope so.