SYDNEY -- In Asia, her name smelled of White Australia. In Australia, she stirred up prejudice and division. More by accident than design, she got elected to Parliament. Today she languishes in prison.
Pauline Hanson will not go away, however, even in jail. The woman who single-handedly turned Australian politics on its head still manages, even locked up and saying nothing, to arouse dark fears within the Australian psyche.
Canberra watchers have even begun to label the past few years of political aberration "Hansonism." The perils of Pauline may be safely shut away -- at least, for three years -- but her legacy is alive and well and, yes, living in those mental recesses most Australians would rather not think about.