SEVEN YEARS have passed since Tony Abbott, an arch-conservative(极端保守主义者) who served as Australia’s prime minister from 2013 to 2015, lost his seat to an independent. Last month his stint(一段任期或活动时间) in the political wilderness(政治荒野（失势状态）) came to an end(结束). On May 29th the Liberal Party, now in opposition, elected him as its president. Its members are counting on Mr Abbott and Angus Taylor, the party’s parliamentary leader, to achieve an urgent mission: to help the right-of-centre Liberal-National coalition survive the stunning rise of Pauline Hanson, and her anti-immigration One Nation party.(帮助中间偏右的自由党-国家党联盟挺过保琳·汉森及其反移民的单一民族党令人震惊的崛起。)
七年过去了，自托尼·阿博特——一位曾在2013年至2015年担任澳大利亚总理的极端保守派——将席位输给独立候选人以来。上个月，他在政治荒野中的漂泊结束了。5月29日，如今在野的自由党选举他为主席。党员们寄望于阿博特先生和该党议会领袖安格斯·泰勒完成一项紧迫任务：帮助中间偏右的自由党-国家党联盟挺过保琳·汉森及其反移民的单一民族党令人震惊的崛起。
One Nation’s surge continues to smack gobs(令人震惊（澳式俚语）) (see chart). In April Redbridge, a leading pollster(民调机构/人员), predicted that if an election were held immediately Anthony Albanese’s ruling Labor Party would win 76 seats in the lower house, out of 150. But One Nation would become Australia’s official opposition, with an astounding(令人震惊的) 53 seats—up from only two at present. The Liberal-National coalition, for its part(就……而言), would limp home(艰难结束（竞赛）) with a mere dozen. Since that research was published, things have only continued moving in Ms Hanson’s favour. Another poll, capturing public feeling in mid-May, showed support for One Nation eclipsing(超过；使黯然失色) even that for Labor.
单一民族党的崛起势头持续惊人（见图表）。4月，领先民调机构Redbridge预测，如果立即举行大选，安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯领导的工党将赢得150个众议院席位中的76席。但单一民族党将以惊人的53席成为澳大利亚官方反对党——目前仅有两席。而自由党-国家党联盟则会步履蹒跚，仅得十余席。自该研究发布以来，局势继续朝着有利于汉森女士的方向发展。另一项捕捉5月中旬公众情绪的民调显示，对单一民族党的支持甚至超过了工党。
One Nation is already proving that it can convert its strong polling into seats. It picked up(获得（尤指不费力地）) seven of them at the state election in South Australia in March. In May One Nation’s candidate won a federal by-election(补选) in southern New South Wales—in a constituency(选区) that had been held by the coalition for some eight decades. A state election in Victoria in November (considered Australia’s most progressive state) will soon show whether One Nation is able to wrest seats from Labor too. The Labor government there is in trouble because of eye-watering(惊人的（金额/数字）) state debt and scandals related to public infrastructure projects.
单一民族党已经在证明，它能够将强劲的民调转化为席位。3月在南澳大利亚州选举中，它获得了七个席位。5月，单一民族党的候选人赢得了新南威尔士州南部的一次联邦补选——该选区曾被联盟党把持了约八十年。11月在维多利亚州（被认为是澳大利亚最进步的州）的州选举将很快揭示单一民族党是否也能从工党手中夺取席位。那里的工党政府正因惊人的州债务和公共基础设施项目相关的丑闻而陷入困境。