Updated ,first published
Anthony Albanese has suggested Pauline Hanson could not effectively negotiate with diverse world leaders if she were prime minister as Labor grapples with how to combat the unprecedented surge of One Nation.
After this masthead’s Resolve Political Monitor showed a third of voters wanted Hanson as prime minister – more than the 29 per cent who nominated Albanese – the Labor leader questioned whether the Queensland senator could manage the job.
“It’s easy to identify grievance. The issue is providing solutions,” Albanese said in Canberra.
“Think about the global fuel crisis that has just occurred, and think about whether everyone in public life would be in a position to go to our Asian friends in Singapore, in Brunei, in Malaysia, in China, in South Korea and Japan. We need to make sure that we continue to have fuel supply,” he said, in a veiled swipe at the minor party leader’s past proclamation that Australia was being “swamped by Asians”.
Albanese suggested that when it came time to vote, Australians would choose Labor as an effective government, pointing to speculation ahead of the 2025 election that former opposition leader Peter Dutton could topple Labor.
But some Labor MPs and advisers privately fear the government has struggled to develop a clear strategy for countering an unconventional political opponent in Hanson, who appears largely resistant to scandal and traditional political attacks.
Internal talking points, issued last week, urge Labor MPs to portray One Nation as a party of “anger” and “slogans” rather than practical solutions, while unions have cranked up attacks on Hanson’s record on wages and job security to challenge her claim to represent working Australians.
The briefing notes provided to MPs argue One Nation has repeatedly opposed measures aimed at easing cost-of-living pressures, drawing parallels with the Coalition.
“I think the PM and others seem to think she [Hanson] is only an issue for the Libs and Nats, but when she’s polling at 30 per cent, she’ll be taking Senate seats off all of us,” one Labor MP said. “I don’t really think they grasp what it’s doing to the country either.”
Hanson, in turn, said the Coalition’s record-low result in the latest Resolve poll showed the party had lost touch with voters. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Monday refused to answer questions about polling numbers worse than when he ousted his predecessor, Sussan Ley.
Hanson said on Monday the results showed the Coalition was “not really understanding the way that people think”.
“Conservative politics has been buried. We’ve listened too much to the ideology, the woke agenda, everything that’s happening. People want change,” the One Nation leader said.
Taylor, speaking at a press conference after a small business roundtable in Sydney, refused to answer questions about his party’s prospects after the poll showed the Coalition slumping to a record-low primary vote of 20 per cent.
“Others will talk about politics and inside-the-beltway stuff. My focus is on the outcomes for Australians,” Taylor said. “In that room just a moment ago, no one was talking about polls.”
The Coalition’s primary vote fell to 23 per cent under former opposition leader Sussan Ley before Taylor launched a February coup.
Off the back of the latest poll – and as One Nation’s “Fire the Liar” fundraiser hit $4 million in less than a week – Barnaby Joyce insisted his party was not getting carried away with its surging popularity.
“I’m very aware of hubris. We will concentrate on the here and now,” Joyce told ABC radio.
Joyce said One Nation was committed to fielding a candidate in every electorate and played down any potential leadership aspirations after the 72-year-old Hanson hinted last week that she would wait to retire until her daughter, Lee – who will take a second run at the Senate for Tasmania at the next election – could take over the party.
In a sign the government is increasingly confronting One Nation head on, Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, appearing alongside Joyce on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise, touted reforms benefiting those in the One Nation MP’s electorate.
“You’ve got 15,500 people who are getting a cut to their student debt in Barnaby’s electorate alone. And about 2500 have got into a home of their own because of our 5 per cent deposits.”
With Rob Harris
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Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
