In the lead-up to the 1998 election, intense speculation surrounded the role that the new One Nation Party, formed in April 1997 by Queensland federal MP Pauline Hanson, would play. Hanson's positions on issues such as multiculturalism, gun ownership and native title were well received in the Nationals' heartland of rural and regional Queensland. Indeed, for much of 1997 and 1998, there was fear in National circles that One Nation could sweep the Nationals out of existence. The Nationals struggled to prevent leakage of their support to One Nation. The cynical mood in the electorate that Borbidge had harnessed to win office now began to turn against him, as he endeavoured to satisfy both the hard-line conservatives deserting the Nationals, and the urban Liberal supporters who detested Hanson and her views. Knowing the threat One Nation posed to his own party, Borbidge attempted to ensure that One Nation would be placed last on coalition how-to-vote cards. However, the organisational wings of both the Liberal and National parties rebuffed him and insisted that they would preference One Nation ahead of Labor (see Australian electoral system). This was done under pressure from the federal Liberal and National organisations, who apparently believed that One Nation's populism would strike a chord with Labor voters and thus peel enough of them off to keep Labor out of power.