{"id":463157,"date":"2026-02-06T22:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463157\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T22:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:38:15","slug":"underestimate-pauline-hanson-and-barnaby-joyce-at-your-peril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463157\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Underestimate Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce at your peril\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 6, 2026 \u2014 3:27pm<\/p>\n

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Buried among the massive dump of new Epstein files from the US Department of Justice, there is a text message exchange<\/a> between Steve Bannon, the former strategist for Donald Trump, and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

In the messages, Bannon boasts that he spoke to Australian billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer<\/a> on his disruptive $80 million advertising campaign<\/a> during the 2019 federal election, which former Labor leader Bill Shorten lost<\/a> to Scott Morrison.<\/p>\n

Speaking with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal in a new Inside Politics podcast episode<\/a>, Bill Shorten, who is now vice chancellor of Canberra University, addresses his \u201cwild\u201d reference in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

He also reflects on his \u201caudacious\u201d economic and tax reform agenda that Treasurer Jim Chalmers is believed to be replicating<\/a> seven years after voters rejected it, and what he thinks lies ahead for the Liberal-National Coalition<\/a>. Shorten\u2019s advice? \u201cUnderestimate Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce at your peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click the player below to listen to the full episode, or read on for an edited extract of the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Maley: Do you think, in terms of the ructions within the Liberal-National Coalition at this moment of recording, that we\u2019re looking at a historic rearrangement of the right wing of Australian politics? Can the Liberals fight their way out of this?<\/p>\n

Related Article\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sakkal: Well, in terms of if they do split in a long-term sense, there are people in the Liberal Party worried about a 1950s Labor-style moment where the centre-right fractures for a longer period of time and that entrenches Labor dominance.<\/p>\n

I suspect the Coalition will not be apart for that long. I don\u2019t think it will be patched up this week. I mean, the absurdity of the back and forth between Sussan Ley and David Littleproud is slightly nauseating, and the squabbling over process and party procedure is really difficult to follow. But there\u2019s a personality dispute at the heart of it between the two leaders. They don\u2019t get along, and they\u2019re both boxed themselves in and would struggle to reconcile because that will diminish their authority … they won\u2019t get back together in the next few weeks, I don\u2019t think, but I suspect they\u2019ll patch it up before the next election.<\/p>\n

But if it is a longer-term split, Bill, and given what One Nation is doing at the moment<\/a>, how do you see the centre-right faring for the next period?<\/p>\n

Shorten: Well, the right of Australian politics have split in the past. Menzies only founded the Liberal Party just over 80 years ago. Don Chipp and some of the Liberals split in the \u201970s. Political parties do split. That\u2019s the first thing. So it\u2019s not unknown. The second thing is underestimate Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce at your peril.<\/p>\n

They are saying things which a lot of people just agree with. Like it or not, that\u2019s just what it is. And they have a sense also that these two are not going to change their convictions to suit a particular issue. So, you know, I talk to old members of my union who I used to organise in the bush. They\u2019ve always voted Labor, but they\u2019re thinking about other things, whether or not that\u2019s wise, that\u2019s up to them.<\/p>\n

\"BillBill Shorten says to underestimate One Nation\u2019s Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce would be at your own peril.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Maley: So what do they say is the appeal of One Nation?<\/p>\n

Shorten: I think they just think that Hanson calls it as it is. Now, the thing is, saying everything that you think in your head aloud isn\u2019t necessarily what people do. And there\u2019s a good reason why we don\u2019t. Because you then think about it. But without getting into who\u2019s right and who\u2019s wrong, she has some appeal. So I think the Coalition need to be careful of that.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Bill<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to predict the demise of the Liberal Party or the National Party. But I would say this is a serious issue … if it goes one way, it\u2019s \u2026 [a] planet extinction level event for the Coalition. So they\u2019re going to need to get their act together quickly.<\/p>\n

But the real challenge, I think, for Labor is that with the Coalition being at sixes and sevens, we\u2019ve got to be careful … a good government needs a strong opposition. And one of the anxieties I feel for some of my colleagues is that what if the Liberal vote falls, that they no longer come second in some of our safer seats, and there\u2019s a sort of militia of third parties come together.<\/p>\n

What Australians want is stability and focus on cost of living. Coalition disunity may be good for some memes, and there were some pretty good one-liners in Parliament<\/a>. But when you\u2019ve got cost of living interest rates, I think a strong opposition is necessary for a strong government.<\/p>\n

To hear more from Bill Shorten about Steve Bannon, Clive Palmer and Jeffrey Epstein, plus the potential upcoming changes to the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount on investments, listen to the podcast episode in the player above or click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Sakkal<\/a> is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 6, 2026 \u2014 3:27pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-463157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}