4 days ago
6
Liberal MPs have baulked at the prospect of joining forces with One Nation after the minor party’s landslide byelection win, as Labor heaps pressure on the opposition by suggesting it will be forced to unite with the populist minor party.
Barnaby Joyce declared on Monday he did not want One Nation to join the Coalition, but said the opposition would have “no option” but to co-operate with the minor party after it proved it could translate surging poll results into a federal victory.
“We don’t want your ministries. Keep your ministries and your salaries. We are not going to be constricted by cabinet solidarity,” Joyce told Nine’s Today show.
The former deputy prime minister and ex-Nationals leader said his party would “go for government” after a One Nation MP was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time. But Joyce said he was also a realist.
“We’ll offer supply and confidence on policy outcomes [to the opposition]. That is not a coalition.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson agreed on Monday that this would be the best approach.
“If they have more numbers than me, they can form a government with my numbers. I’m quite happy to do that,” Hanson said.
“I don’t want the ministerial position because I’m not going to be the tail on the dog, just wagging, and nothing happens. Because they’ve done that for the National Party. That’s why the National Party haven’t been able to really represent the rural and regional areas of state to the best of their ability.”
Speculation has swirled that the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation would consider joining forces after Hanson’s party seized one of the Liberals’ dwindling number of lower house seats on Saturday. The Liberals only received about 12 per cent of first preferences.
Senior members of the shadow cabinet had refused to rule out joining forces with One Nation in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s vote.
“We traditionally form a coalition with the National Party, but it’s up to the Australian people to decide who they want to vote for,” shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said on Sunday.
Asked about his comments on Monday, Wilson clarified he had “no interest” in forming a coalition with One Nation.
“I have never, ever, ever, and never, ever, ever, will make such a statement in favour of such an alignment,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Liberal moderates immediately baulked at the suggestion, with Senator Dave Sharma saying voters were repulsed by the major parties rather than attracted to One Nation.
“I think Labor is doing a bad job of being in government – that’s the space that’s open to us right now,” Sharma told Sky News.
Fellow Liberal moderate Maria Kovacic told Sky a coalition with One Nation was “not something that’s on the table”.
Labor sharpened its attacks against its conservative opponents on Monday, slamming One Nation’s voting record on cost-of-living measures.
“If [Barnaby Joyce] tries to campaign and win in Western Sydney, we will be there to remind Western Sydney residents that One Nation has voted against every single bit of cost-of-living relief we’ve provided,” Environment Minister Murray Watt said.
“I don’t think that’s what the battlers of Western Sydney are looking for.”
The Labor frontbencher challenged Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to explain to the Australian people “what kind of compromises and what policy deals” he would do with One Nation to gain the party’s support.
“What’s clear now, beyond any doubt, is that the Liberal and National parties cannot form government in their own right without One Nation being part of that coalition,” he said.
The prime minister said the Liberal and Nationals parties had made a “big mistake legitimising One Nation”.
“In adopting many of their policies, being a lighter version of them, and then following that up by giving them preferences [in the Farrer byelection], they were saying, effectively, that it was OK to vote for One Nation rather than the traditional conservative party,” Anthony Albanese told Radio National.
Go deeper on One Nation’s huge win
