Pauline Hanson is an instinctive politician, the Australia Institute report says.. Credit:Andrew Meares After One Nation's return to the political centre stage last year, the Liberal Party moved to accept it into the mainstream. Senator Arthur Sinodinos declared that it had "evolved" and the West Australian Liberal Party forged a preference deal with it. But Dorling says there is no evidence of such evolution. He argues that Hanson instinctively changes her rhetoric to suit current sentiment on the far right of the Australian political spectrum. In the report, to be published by progressive think tank the Australia Institute, Dorling writes that, when the party emerged in 1996, Hanson harnessed concern on the right about Chinese and Vietnamese immigration and the Labor Party's declaration that Australia was an Asian nation. He notes that Hanson's focus on Islam did not begin after the attacks of September 11, 2001, but after the Cronulla riots, which broke out as a result of anti-Muslim sentiment fanned in part by conservative media.

"[Hanson] is an instinctive politician. She has some deep-seated ideas about race and culture and small government, but beyond that she is an opportunist," Dorling told Fairfax Media. As a result, Dorling says, Hanson is keeping her rhetoric targeted at Islam, while focusing the party's preoccupation with the so-called "Asianisation of Australia" on China and Chinese Australians. "She sees China and Chinese Australians as a more viable political target at the moment," as a result of public disquiet at the rise of China and Chinese investment in Australia, Dorling told Fairfax Media. "Fear of Chinese investment and acquisition of land and infrastructure are major One Nation themes, as is the alleged impact of the entry of Asian, predominantly Chinese, workers and students, on Australian employment and housing costs," he writes in the report. "In 2014, in an article posted on the One Nation website under her own name, Pauline Hanson expressed strong opposition to the China-Australia free-trade agreement, with one of her 'greatest concerns' being the prospect of increased movement of Chinese labour into Australia and Chinese ownership of Australian land and infrastructure.

"Senator Hanson and One Nation are opposed to free-trade agreements broadly, but it is very clear that Australia's agreement with China is a focus of particular concern." The report notes that, during an interview with radio host Kyle Sandilands last year, Hanson boasted members of her party had "Asian wives" and that the party had recently fielded two Asian Australian candidates. One was the Chinese Australian Tshung Chang, who contested the Legislative Assembly district of Riverton in the West Australian election in March. Chang described One Nation's assimilation policy as a "triple A" approach. "No matter where you are from, you should Assimilate, Accept and Adapt ... if you come here, you should abide to [sic] Australian laws and not break any rules," he is quoted in the report as saying.

The second was Taiwan-born Shan Ju Lin who was selected to contest the Queensland state electorate of Bundamba. "I feel the Chinese Communist Party is a great threat to Australia because they bought a lot of businesses and our harbours and properties," she told the ABC, Dorling reports. "They will take over power of Australia. They will form their own government. Would you like 20 million people to move to Australia? Would you like to see that happen?" Lin was eventually dumped as a candidate after making homophobic remarks, but Dorling argues her positioning on China could flag a future One Nation stance. "A broad anti-Asian stance would probably be politically counter-productive for One Nation, but a specifically anti-China approach could prove attractive," he writes.

"Nationalist movements such as One Nation have a long track record of targeting so-called 'fifth columns' linked to threatening external powers. "This may prove an relatively easy shift when concerns about China's international ambitions and domestic influence in Australia are featuring not only in far-right political discourse such as commentary by [conservative commentator] Andrew Bolt, but also in mainstream national security and media commentary." The report is titled: Still anti-Asian? Anti-Chinese? One Nation policies on Asian immigration and multiculturalism.