The federal opposition has opened the door to a potential partnership with One Nation in an attempt to unseat the Labor government.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor this morning refused to rule out working with One Nation, after the minor party rode a recent record wave of support to steal voters and the seat of Farrer from the Coalition.
“I will work with whoever I can work with to stop Labor getting those taxes through and I will work with whoever I can work with to defeat Labor at the next election,” he told Sky News.
“I hope One Nation will vote with us on axing those taxes and, as I say, we will do whatever we can to beat Labor.”
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has previously said she would be willing to offer the Coalition confidence and support in the event they needed her numbers to form a majority in the House of Representatives at a federal election.
However, she said she would not take up a ministerial role in that situation.
“I don’t want a ministerial position because that means they will be able to shut me down, dictate to me, and I have to pass bad legislation, support them on it. I’m not going to do that,” Hanson previously told The Australian.
The latest Resolve poll for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age showed Taylor had nudged ahead of Anthony Albanese as the preferred prime minister for the first time.
Labor’s primary vote slipped to 29 per cent, while One Nation rose to 24 per cent and the Coalition remained steady at 23 per cent.
It was the first poll after the government handed down its federal budget, including changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount and other controversial tax reform, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers admitted could cause a slump in popularity.
”It would surprise me more if we got some sort of bounce in the polls from the difficult decisions we took in the budget,” he admitted yesterday.
The Coalition has lost some of its voters to One Nation after its disastrous loss at last year’s federal election and in the fallout of several leadership changes.
One Nation’s record rise in the opinion polls has been proven at the polling booth after winning seven new state MPs at the South Australian election and snatching the seat of Farrer from the Coalition for the first time in its 77-year history.
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