Pauline Hanson says there is more “to do” as new polling shows One Nation could take up to 59 seats if the election was held today.
The Redbridge Group and Accent Research poll painted a worst-case scenario picture for the major parties, with the Coalition wiped out entirely at the polls in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania.
Labor would be reduced to 76 seats, a slim majority.
Senator Hanson downplayed the result on Sunday, telling Sky News while it was “very encouraging … it is only a poll”.
“The real poll is on election day,” she said.
“But, it does tell me we’ve still got a little bit to do.”
Senator Hanson said voters on the street had told her “we need you, you’re our last hope”.
“They’re destitute, they really are,” she said.
“The cost of living is impacting on them. Businesses, especially, with this budget that’s been handed down by the Labor Party, the agricultural sector, the mining sector.
“Everyone has been impacted by this hopeless Labor Albanese government.”
“I’ve been true to my convictions, my values, what I want to to change in Australia, and I’ve just kept pushing forward, putting out policies there, informing people where I would like to take this country”, she continued, noting the 40 per cent primary vote in the Farrer by-election for One Nation MP David Farley.
“If the policy is any real indication, it is an indication people want change, and I’m going to keep pushing forward,” she said.
Asked about a potential alliance with the Coalition, Senator Hanson said “whoever gets the numbers, let’s work together”.
‘Failed on economic policy’
Reacting to the polling, opposition spokesperson for housing Andrew Bragg said it showed there was “a huge amount of grievance in the Australian community, and I think we have not done a good job in the last ten years on economic policy”.
“That’s my main takeaway, that we’ve had too much similarity with the Labor Party,” he told Sunday Agenda on Sky News.
“We should have done more on tax, more on industrial relations, more on super, more on budget stuff … we’ve just been too similar to Labor over a long period of time, and we’re been punished.”
Senator Bragg said the “chickens are coming home to roost” for the Liberal Party, which he claimed had “failed on economic policy” or to differentiate itself on tax “other than the stage three cuts”.
He said the Liberal Party had been “too much of a uni-party” with Labor on economic policy.
“If we don’t massively differentiate like we’re starting to do on bracket creep, then we’re going to be dead,” he said.
Senator Bragg said Australians “want an economic revolution”, and that it was not too late for the Liberal Party to reset.
However, when pressed on the Albanese government’s capital gains tax reforms, he said he would “increase” the discount rather than cutting it or returning it to 50 per cent.
“We should be looking to cut taxes,” he said.
“There are heaps of ways you could play around with CGT to actually incentivise more investment.”
Asked what cuts would take place to enable such measures, Senator Bragg said “well, obviously, we’ll get through that”.
“But, we have to nominate exactly what it is that we wouldn’t go ahead with,” he said, adding that “people are too afraid to say what they would cut”.
Pressed, he continued: “We’ve talked about it a lot in the budget reply in terms of the government’s boondoggles, like the NRF (National Reconstruction Fund) and the
Housing (Australia Future) Fund.
“Obviously we’ll support the government on the NDIS, but there are other things that we should be looking to to reduce or to remove.”
‘No denying’
Reacting to the same poll, Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton said there was “no denying” the rise of One Nation in the polls.
“That’s a phenomenon that we’ve seen all around the world,” he told Sky News.
“For me, the challenge with One Nation is they’re very good at pointing out grievances. They are much less good at providing solutions, and particularly they’re not good at providing solutions that help Australian families and Australian workers.
“Every opportunity they get … they vote against things that will benefit Australian families and workers. They voted against Same Job, Same Pay. They voted against wage rises. They didn’t support cost of living increases.
“One Nation, every single time they face a choice between battlers and billionaires, they choose the billionaires.”
Asked if he feared Labor would lose seats to One Nation, Mr Charlton said “we’ll have to see what happens between now and the next election”.
“But, clearly, the best strategy for Labor is to present real solutions to people,” he said.
“It’s to show them that we are actually tackling the problems that they face in their day to day lives, and this budget is part of that.”
Pauline Hanson was in South Australia on Thursday to announce her party’s gas policy.
Earlier this month, she also shepherded her party’s second-only lower house MP – first to win on a One Nation ticket – into federal parliament.
Read related topics:One NationPauline Hanson