A population researcher has warned that a growing bloc of Australian voters frustrated by migration levels, housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures is driving support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation, posing a significant political challenge for Anthony Albanese's Labor government. The comments follow Labor's loss of the previously safe state seat of Secret Harbour in Western Australia to One Nation, which Bob Birrell, president of the Australian Population Research Institute, says reflects long-building resentment among working-class voters who feel abandoned by the major parties.

Birrell's research identifies a "patriot" cohort making up 50 to 60 per cent of voters who hold strong feelings about Australian identity and oppose Labor's progressive stance on migration and multiculturalism. He argues Labor's high post-pandemic migration intake, which peaked at a record 538,000 in 2022-23 before easing to 306,000 in 2024-25, remains well above the pre-pandemic level of roughly 230,000 and has fuelled competition for jobs, housing and services. Birrell also points to around two million temporary migrants living in Australia, many former international students seeking permanent residency, whom he describes as a vulnerable "underclass" exposed to exploitation.