Steel yourself
The year hasn't started quietly, with a royal commission backflip, a One Nation polling jolt, Trump tremors, BlueScope drama and the onward march of AI all packing the calendar early.
In business and politics, the first week of January is usually anything but a hive of activity. Everyone takes their time getting back to their desks, our CBDs are mercifully empty and the trickle of emails has yet to become a flood. In what may prove a preview of a chaotic year, the opening gambit of 2026 has been a little more rambunctious.
With the abject horror of last month’s Bondi terror attack still fresh, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese relented to demands from across Australia’s civic sphere to call a royal commission into antisemitism, beginning the year with a backdown.
But as the government yielded to pressure, the opposition was dealing with its own drama. Today, Capital Brief exclusively published fresh federal polling from DemosAU, which found Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to be neck-and-neck with Sussan Ley’s Coalition, both sitting at 23%.
As Finn McHugh pointed out in today’s Political Capital, there are plenty of caveats to keep in mind — after all, it’s a single poll and we are still years away from an election. But the direction of travel is clear: One Nation is capturing some of its strongest support ever recorded.
