Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 23 June 2026

Rita Panahi:

Joining me now for more on this is News Corp Senior Writer Patrick Carlyon and Institute of Public Affairs Research Fellow Colleen Harkin. Patrick, this is a seismic shift in Australian politics. It’s not some phase the electorate is going through. I know a lot of the people in the Coalition and Labour want to think this is just a little tantrum the electorate is throwing, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Patrick Carlyon:

Look, there’s so much to unpack here, isn’t there? I mean, the coalition is a minor party on those numbers. One Nation projecting 53 to 64 seats. I mean, that is massive. And this has happened, what, in eight months, nine months? If you peg it to Bondi or just before then, I mean, this is cataclysmic in its proportions and Labour is struggling too. The mainstream parties don’t know how to fight it. And I think it also goes to the decline of the activist left. I mean, if you look at when that poll was taken, it was last week, it was during Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech, which got a lot of coverage and a lot of criticism from the left. And that criticism hasn’t resonated, has it?

Rita Panahi:

No. Particularly there was a lot of criticism, Colleen, about the monoculture, multicultural debate. And again, she said something that a lot of people think and want to be able to say without being attacked, which is we have Australian values and we want to have one dominant Australian culture. And you can have people from all sorts of ethnicities, we’re a multi-ethnic society, but having a monoculture is not something that is a fringe opinion.

Colleen Harkin:

No, it’s not at all. And I think that 75,000 people donating to the Fire the Liar campaign, it just frames that is the common view that people are… Very welcoming country. Ethnicity is fantastic, but we do have to have a shared culture and what our values are. I think the other interesting component of that particular survey was that it did ask the question about if Tony Abbott was the leader of the Coalition, would it change their vote? And it didn’t at all. So I think it shows that the One Nation vote is not a protest vote. It’s not even a swinging vote anymore. It’s sticking. A lot can happen, of course, in the time before the elections, but people seem to be very committed to that pathway.

Rita Panahi:

And that key demographic I pointed out on female voters that has shocked a lot of people, it’s not the only poll that has shown that. And we do have this view that female voters are always going to vote left or would never support a party that’s right of centre. But Colleen, again, these figures make that assumption an absolute lie. That is not the case.

Colleen Harkin:

Completely. And you’ve had the Coalition for a long time moving away and too afraid to talk about some of those things about what is a woman. And I think that’s really resonated that Pauline’s taken a very strong stance on that. The other component of that survey again is the migrants who don’t speak English at home are the greatest supporters of that monoculture comment by Pauline Hanson. So it just continues to show the elites and the bureaucracy and the activists are really out of touch with what-

Rita Panahi:

Absolutely.

Colleen Harkin:

… the ordinary mainstream Australian wants.

Rita Panahi:

There was a different poll out last week, different company, I think actually it was the nine papers that had commissioned that poll and I think they were hoping for very different results. So that one showed that there was almost no difference between support for One Nation among those born in Australia and those born overseas. So first generation migrants, 28% of them backed One Nation compared to 29% of Australian-born voters, so almost identical. Again, that notion that this is some racist party for old white men is absolutely false. And Colleen, before we move on to the next issue, is it true that you have joined One Nation?

Colleen Harkin:

Yes, it is true. I will confirm that. I’ve been politically active all my life. I’m interested in good policy for the betterment of our country and I’m the kind of person who’ll just put my hand in and help. Yeah, I’ve joined.

Rita Panahi:

Wonderful. Now let’s move on to British politics and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he will resign. Well, Donald Trump told us that almost a day earlier, so thanks for that. He won an election in a landslide only to become the most unpopular British leader ever. His government has suffered backbench revolts over welfare and spending policies, a tax scandal, which claimed the deputy prime minister’s role, Angela Rayner, and the country is gripped with a cost of living crisis, a self-inflicted energy crisis, and an ongoing illegal immigration crisis. But Keir Starmer seems to be operating in a parallel universe.

Keir Starmer:

I will also give my successor my full and unequivocal support, knowing that they will inherit a Britain that is far stronger and fairer than the one I inherited two years ago, better prepared for the challenges ahead and better able to ensure the Labour Party secures a second term in office.

Rita Panahi:

Just utterly delusional if he thinks Britain is in a better position now than when he became prime minister. Nominations for the leadership will open on July nine and the process should be completed by the summer recess. Patrick, by September, Britain will see its seventh prime minister in 10 years. This is the sort of thing we used to see in Italy. Now it’s the U.K.

Patrick Carlyon:

That’s right. And look, when Keir Starmer got elected back in ’24, he talked about stabilising the country and he was going to reduce crime, as you said, and immigration, bring down energy bills. He did none of them. He failed on every of his own measures and it just got worse and worse. I mean, that judgement he used to give Mandelson the ambassadorship to the U.S., just bad judgement . He was tepid throughout, poor leadership, and the country really is suffering for it. I mean, they’ve got more welfare recipients in Britain now than taxpayers.

Rita Panahi:

Now Reform were quick to post this video to remind you just who Keir Starmer is.

Zia Yusuf:

This is Kier Starmer. You probably know him as the most unpopular prime minister ever, but did you know he hounded an innocent British veteran through the courts so ruthlessly that Sergeant Richie Caterall tried to take his own life three times. In 2007, Starmer went to court and successfully forced the British government to reopen investigations into hundreds of our soldiers. One of them was Sergeant Caterall who had already been investigated and cleared twice. Now you may be thinking a man’s got to earn a living, but oh no, Starmer did all this for free. He hates our veterans so much that the current prime minister of this country sought to ruin the lives of our soldiers in court as a hobby. And it gets worse. Incredibly, the case against Sergeant Caterall relied on a fabricated document forged to frame British troops.

Rita Panahi:

That entire video is just so brilliant and really the legacy of Keir Starmer I think is going to be a strong one. We’re going to cross to the U.K. to speak to Andrew Eborn about that a little bit later. But Colleen, there’s a lot of lessons here for Australian political parties, both Labour and the Coalition. You see what’s happened with the Tories, very similar to what we’re seeing with the Coalition and the same with Labour winning in a landslide, but now on the nose.

Colleen Harkin:

Well, that’s exactly right. I mean, they won with a landslide in 2024 and they squandered all of that goodwill. They did nothing about the issues that people worried about, higher taxes, regulatory expansion, immigration, cost of living, all of those things. But I think the real story here underneath it all is, this is the rise of the ordinary voter and what they want prioritised. And it is showing across all the Anglosphere where people have just had enough of an activist agenda and they’re prioritising things that matter to ordinary people.

Rita Panahi:

Now there was a tense clash during question time yesterday, a question by independent MP Dai Le about the government’s capital gains tax changes. Well, listen here to the PM’s response to that question.

Dai Lee:

Prime Minister, the capital gains tax and negative gearing changes announced in the May budget were significant and marked sensitive measures. So significant your government has already walked parts of them back in recent days. Can the Prime Minister give the House a strong assurance that no government MP or their close relations used prior knowledge of those changes for private financial benefit before they were made public?

Tony Burke:

I’m not particularly happy with that regarding the standing orders regarding the imputations that was contained in that question. The rules are, the question can’t contain argument, inference, imputation, insults. It’s all there.

Anthony Albanese:

If she’s got a suggestion or an allegation about anyone in the chamber she should actually say it, what it is and preferably say it outside. This isn’t a council. This is a serious parliament.

Dai Lee:

I think the Prime Minister should have some respect in the House.

Anthony Albanese:

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. No one has done more for local government in this house than me.

Rita Panahi:

“This isn’t a council,” Patrick, referring to Dai Le’s previous role. That sort of arrogant, dismissive style I don’t think is going to boost the PM’s popularity.

Patrick Carlyon:

No, look, he looked petulant, didn’t he? He looked patronising. He looked-

Rita Panahi:

Answer the question.

Patrick Carlyon:

That’s right. I think if you’re going to put a question like that, you probably should bring a bit more evidence with it. If you’re going to throw around mud, make sure it hits the right place. But his response was certainly very petulant and almost unbecoming. It looked like he was just unhappy about it. He didn’t want to talk about it and he wanted it to go away and he was arrogant in trying to make it go away.

Rita Panahi:

And having other people stepping in to run interference as well. Colleen, why not if it’s such a absurd question, if it’s without foundation, just dismiss it?

Colleen Harkin:

Just answer it.

Rita Panahi:

Just be dismissive, answer it. Say it has no foundation, “You’re just looking for a headline. You should go away and do some research.” And I think that would have been far more convincing.

Colleen Harkin:

I mean-

Rita Panahi:

Now I think there’s something to it.

Colleen Harkin:

Correct. Now I want somebody to look into it a bit further. All he had to do was say, “No, there has been no interference or anything.” This question still hasn’t been answered at all. And I agree with you, Patrick, that this patronising tone in his commentary to Dai Le, it’s entirely inappropriate. And the other thing about insults or inference, anybody watches Parliament, it’s a clown show and they do it-

Patrick Carlyon:

That’s right.

Colleen Harkin:

… all the time. So taking her out on her own is, it’s pathetic.

Rita Panahi:

It was very precious indeed. Now before we go, let’s have a look at this little commercial cartoon from Pauline Hanson. Again, it’s clever. It’s funny. It hits the mark.

Pauline Hanson Please Explain Video :

Oh, man. One Nation have raised millions of dollars with this Fire the Liar campaign and it keeps going up. How am I going to lie my way out of this?

Albo, have you considered telling the truth?

Telling the truth, hey, I love mass migration. It’s destroying everything. I don’t care about your power bills. Net zero is a scam. I love the Isis brides because votes in West Sydney are more important than national security. I cashed out on all my investment properties right before I change the rules. Isn’t that convenient? Isn’t it obvious? I’ve got no idea what I’m doing. Please fire me, please. Stop me before I do any more damage, please. Nah, I’ll just stick to the lies. What? Shoulder angel Albo, did you just donate as well?

It’s money well spent, you liar.

Rita Panahi:

It’s just clever. It really is, Patrick, and One Nation are nailing their social media campaign. I’ve got to say whether you love, hate them, indifferent to them, their social media is so much more clever and edgy than what you see from the Coalition and Labour.

Patrick Carlyon:

Look, it’s fast, it’s funny and it’s simple and it engages people who aren’t politically engaged. It actually brings this whole audience to politics in a way, makes politics look like fun. It’s making something funny and we’ve missed that political satire in Australia for a long time.

Rita Panahi:

We have.

Patrick Carlyon:

It’s good to see you back.

Rita Panahi:

We had some satire on our television sets from Australian productions. Colleen Harkin, Patrick Carlyon, thank you so much for your time.

This transcript with Colleen Harkin talking on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia from 23 June 2026 has been edited for clarity.