{"id":708123,"date":"2026-06-01T11:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708123\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:21:08","slug":"labor-to-highlight-risk-of-one-nation-to-cost-of-living-in-bid-to-dent-pauline-hansons-popularity-one-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/708123\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor to highlight \u2018risk\u2019 of One Nation to cost of living in bid to dent Pauline Hanson\u2019s popularity | One Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labor will seek to highlight Pauline Hanson\u2019s record of opposing cost-of-living relief for working people as it tries to prevent One Nation further eroding its voter base.<\/p>\n

As the government grapples with how to deal with Hanson\u2019s surge, one Labor MP predicted One Nation\u2019s support had peaked and the rightwing populist party wouldn\u2019t be able to replicate its polling success at a federal election.<\/p>\n

But Labor MP Mike Freelander said his party must continue to examine options to help under-pressure workers, including further income tax cuts.<\/p>\n

A new Redbridge Group\/Accent Research <\/a>poll published in the Australian Financial Review put One Nation ahead of Labor for the first time, making it the most popular political party in the country.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The result provides further evidence that while One Nation poses an existential threat to the Liberals and Nationals, it also represents an increasing danger for Labor.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Hanson fielded media questions about the possibility of becoming the prime minister, despite One Nation holding just two of the 150 lower house seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I have the ability to do it? You bet I have,\u201d she told 2GB radio.<\/p>\n

Hanson\u2019s poll numbers have continued to rise despite a string of controversies that would ordinarily damage a politician\u2019s standing, forcing the major parties to reassess their approach to combatting One Nation.<\/p>\n

Labor is attempting to apply greater scrutiny to Hanson\u2019s record opposing cost-of-living relief for the same working-class voters she claims to champion.<\/p>\n

The One Nation leader has signalled she would not support a real increase to the minimum wage<\/a> when the independent Fair Work Commission hands down its annual decision on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government has backed a wage rise that is \u201ceconomically sustainable\u201d<\/a> but above the rate of inflation, which was running at 4.2% in the 12 months to March.<\/p>\n

Appearing on morning television with One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, called out his party\u2019s opposition to support for workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery opportunity they\u2019ve had, they\u2019ve actually voted against things that would make it easier, make life easier for Australians,\u201d Plibersek said on Channel 7\u2019s Sunrise program.<\/p>\n

Other senior Labor ministers played down the significance of the new opinion poll but acknowledged that voters were hurting.<\/p>\n

The federal budget also appears to have damaged the government\u2019s standing, with the health minister, Mark Butler, admitting it would \u201ctake some time\u201d to explain its contentious changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"HowHow Pauline Hanson\u2019s One Nation is changing politics: Full Story newsroom edition \u2013 video<\/p>\n

A senior government source said Labor\u2019s challenge was to highlight the \u201crisk\u201d of One Nation and its policies, arguing Hanson was currently perceived as a \u201crisk-free\u201d option for angry voters.<\/p>\n

Freelander said while the opinion polls couldn\u2019t be ignored he was confident support for One Nation had peaked.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things have gone in their favour. There\u2019s a budget that\u2019s created some controversy. People are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, and you know they [One Nation] had a bit of wind put in their sails from the Farrer byelection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Macarthur MP said personal attacks on Hanson were \u201cwrong\u201d and counterproductive\u201d, insisting the focus must be on One Nation\u2019s policy positions.<\/p>\n

The backbencher said the government must \u201cstick to its guns\u201d with its agenda but should remain open to more cost-of-living relief.<\/p>\n

The government is spruiking five separate changes to lower income tax that will deliver the average worker a benefit of up to $2,800 a year when fully implemented.<\/p>\n

But Freelander said Labor should be prepared to go further.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think around taxation we do need to be looking at how we can improve people\u2019s take-home pay, looking at how we can modify the tax system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we need to continue to look at how we can make it better. We shouldn\u2019t rest on our laurels by any means.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labor will seek to highlight Pauline Hanson\u2019s record of opposing cost-of-living relief for working people as it tries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-708123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708123","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=708123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}