View from The Hill: Did Albanese’s language against One Nation ‘cross a line’ or is Pauline Hanson just playing victim politics?

The major political parties are struggling to find ways to effectively counter Pauline Hanson and One Nation.

Their attacks, whether general or on specific policies, bounce off what seems a teflon surface.

They bring their targets more attention – and that (so far) appears to work for the Hansonite insurgents rather than against them.

And when they ramp up the attacks, as Anthony Albanese did at the weekend, Hanson brazenly turns the heat back on her opponents.

Albanese told the Queensland Labor conference on Sunday: Delegates, this a crucial time for our movement.

Across the world hard right populists are on the march.

Peddling politics that is dangerous, divisive, and downright dishonest.

They’ll say anything and do anything to win votes.

Bend any facts.

Peddle misinformation and disinformation.

Turn Australian against Australian.

Parties like One Nation have no serious answers to our problems.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, speaking at the same conference, said this moment represented a “threat to our country and its cohesion, its people and economy posed by a dangerous and divisive Coalition of chaos”.

Hyper rhetoric but hardly much more than that, in what is a generally degraded political debate in this country.