Pauline Hanson's shock Australian election success could damage tourism, keep away students and hurt investment, the country was warned yesterday.
Ms Hanson's One Nation party won one-quarter of the votes in Saturday's Queensland state election, meaning it could finish with 13 of the 89 state Parliament seats.
Although the final result will not be known for at least a week, political analysts were predicting a narrow Labor win - and big losses for Australia.
A triumphant Ms Hanson declared: 'There has never been an alternative party to vote for - now they have it in One Nation.' The scale of her support will almost certainly delay Prime Minister John Howard's plans to call an early general election. 'There are clear lessons to be learnt from the result,' he said.
Chief among them was the possibility that Ms Hanson's party could hold the balance of power at both the federal and state level, and with it the power to block unpopular legislation.
But it is the social and economic implications that are Australia's greatest worry.
