Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan has ruled out any coalition with One Nation, despite growing internal pressure for closer ties and polls showing the rightwing party's rise threatens the Coalition's ability to govern alone. Speaking on ABC's Insiders on Sunday, Tehan stated: 'We do not want to be part of a coalition with One Nation. We want to be part of a coalition with the Liberal party and the National party.'
Internal divisions over One Nation strategy
While no formal coalition-style arrangement is publicly discussed, splits are emerging within the Liberals and Nationals about whether to fight One Nation or seek closer ties. Frontbencher Andrew Hastie has vowed 'war' on Pauline Hanson's party, while junior shadow minister Tony Pasin suggested a seat-sharing arrangement. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie indicated she would 'come and help [Hanson] campaign' in Labor-held seats, and former prime minister Tony Abbott, now Liberal party president, has backed preference deals with One Nation.
Tehan dismissed the idea of an alliance, saying it was 'not even being talked about' among colleagues. Pressed repeatedly, he responded: 'We're not entertaining or discussing or being part of a coalition with One Nation.'
Polling woes for the Coalition
Recent opinion polls show One Nation's primary vote in the high 20s or low 30s, neck-and-neck with Labor, while the Coalition polls in the high teens or low 20s. Last week's Guardian Essential poll recorded Labor on 30%, One Nation on 26%, and the Coalition on 23%. Polling experts warn that the splitting of the conservative vote between One Nation and the Coalition makes it highly difficult for the Liberals and Nationals to return to government alone, especially with expectations that One Nation could win several seats at the next election, mostly at the expense of Coalition MPs.
Tehan was asked what the Coalition needed to do to arrest its polling slide. He said the Coalition would continue criticising Labor for breaking promises on negative gearing and capital gains tax, but host David Speers pressed him on whether an alliance with One Nation was necessary. Tehan insisted the Coalition's focus was on its own partnership: 'What I want to be part of is a Liberal party and a National party that in coalition runs this country again.'
Abbott's controversial remarks
Tony Abbott, in a speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship summit in London last week, claimed 'mass migration' was being pursued 'to dilute and eventually to extinguish the Anglo-Celtic core culture and the Judaeo-Christian foundational ethos'. The phrase was rejected by some Liberal moderates. Tehan distanced himself from Abbott's remarks, saying he hadn't heard the speech until shortly before the program but that Abbott 'respects' party processes. Tehan emphasised that the Coalition's partyroom, not its executive, sets policy, including migration.
'Angus Taylor, in his budget-in-reply speech, set the foundations of where we want to go. And, in particular, making sure that we have our migration levels in line with the amount of houses that are built in this nation so that we can rebalance our migration policy,' Tehan said. 'Now, there are people who have a lot of views about this. But it is the partyroom which always has and always will set the policy agenda.'
Albanese mocks conservative 'axis of grievance'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking to the NSW Labor conference on Sunday, mocked the ructions on the right of politics. Referring to Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh's calls for a 'rebrand' of the opposition, Albanese said: 'The problem is not their brand – it is their product. It is not their sales pitch – it is their policies.'
'It is the race to the bottom that all three rightwing parties are caught up in. They are the axis of grievance. Each trying to be more anti-fairness, more anti-worker, more anti-aspiration,' he said. 'This is why, for all the shifts in the landscape over the years, the fundamental contrast in Australian politics remains the same. Our opponents only ever define themselves by who and what they are against.'
