May 15, 2026
A few months before Australia's conservative Liberal Party suffered its worst election defeat last May, Sydney stockbroker Angus Aitken donated A$230,000 ($165,000) to the party, a political cause he thought he would support for life.
This year he is changing teams, committing A$1.1 million to populist anti-immigration party Pauline Hanson's One Nation as he turns away from a conservative establishment racked by infighting and dismal polling.
Aitken is not alone: encouraged by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, some of Australia's wealthiest voters are shifting support from the Liberal-National coalition to an outsider party that has, until recently, relied on small donations.
Since launching in 1997, One Nation has had only a peripheral presence in parliament with its hardline anti-immigration stance and antagonism toward environmental and progressive social issues. After U.S. President Donald Trump's 2024 re-election, the party emulated his plans for mass deportation of visa overstayers and wholesale deregulation.
