Read The Diplomat, Know The Asia-Pacific
With a below replacement-level birth rate and a booming elder population, One Nation’s anti-immigration stance, combined with its critique of superannuation, is a toxic combo.
A major structural issue facing most Western and East Asian countries at present is their below replacement-level birth rates. This has the potential to create an unfavorable dependency ratio – the problem of aging societies with a large cohort of retirees, but not enough workers to pay for pensions, healthcare, and other essential services.
Yet simultaneously, many Western countries are experiencing an insurgence of populist, and often extremist, parties hostile to the one mechanism available to alleviate this problem: immigration. In Australia, this year has seen the rise of One Nation – previously a small fringe anti-immigrant party – now consistently polling in the mid-high 20 percent range. One Nation often matches the governing Labor Party’s poll numbers, and is polling far ahead of Australia’s other traditional major political force, the permanent coalition between the Liberal and National parties.
One Nation’s reason for existence is to undermine Australia’s migration program – which it sees as a threat to their idea of the Australian nation. Yet as the party has ascended in the polls it has needed to branch out into other populist causes and conspiratorial theories to promote. One issue the party has landed on is Australia’s retirement savings scheme – known as superannuation.
