Pauline Hanson has hit out at the federal Liberal Party for not wanting to work with One Nation, declaring she is “sick of their attitude” and one of the reasons she is committed to “going for government”.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor made a major pitch to win back One Nation voters during Thursday’s budget reply speech, announcing new policies to link immigration to housing supply and banning non-citizens from accessing welfare.
This comes after One Nation secured a historic victory in the Farrer by-election, winning 39.5 per cent of the primary vote compared to a combined 22.2 per cent for the Liberal and National parties.
But the One Nation leader dismissed the pitch on Friday, telling Sky News Australia it was full of “motherhood statements” that the Coalition would not be able to deliver on.
“Look, Angus Taylor is trying to appeal to the One Nation voters. The Farrer by-election was a big wake-up call for them,” Senator Hanson told Sky News host Rowan Dean.
“A lot of it was leaning towards One Nation’s policies… But if he wants to be the government, he needs to produce more to show the people what he can do. And I don’t think he really produced that.
“He’s talking about knocking immigration back… but he couldn’t even put a figure on it.
“It was motherhood statements”.
“He’s leaning towards One Nation’s policies; the difference is that I will actually be able to carry it through.”
Senator Hanson said Mr Taylor would be “hamstrung” by his own party, claiming some of them were “Labor-lite or Greens, even”.
“Angus Taylor is going to be hamstrung by his members of parliament, who are the moderates,” she said.
“They won’t allow him to bring in a lot of this, especially with your climate change, gender dysphoria, all this rubbish.
“And that’s going to be his big problem, because they’re going to block him. They will block him!”
The One Nation leader said she wanted to “work with the Coalition” to get rid of the government, but the Liberal Party had shown no interest.
“What we need to do is to work together to oust this Labor/Greens/Teal government. They are destroying this country. And I’m fearful if they get another term in there,” she said.
“But when I say this, and I say, look, I don’t want ministerial positions, if you get the numbers, I’ll give you supply and I’ll get your confidence; will you give me the same if it’s the other way around?
“The silence is deafening.”
The One Nation leader said she was sick of “propping up” the Coalition, and was committed to her party winning government itself.
“I’m going for government because I’m not going to keep propping them up,” she said.
“If I have to work with them, I will, but I’m sick of their attitude and I’m going to prove to the Australian people we have the policies, we have determination, and we can do it.”
“And if it happens that I need to be prime minister of this country… I’m going to go for it.”