‘Don’t underestimate me’: Hanson dismisses questions she’s too old to lead

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has declared she is fit to serve as prime minister after turning 72 last week, as the government dismisses new polling that shows Labor falling behind the populist party for the first time.

Liberal MPs have blamed the latest polling, which placed the Coalition third, on the government for angering voters, as shadow treasurer Tim Wilson and former prime minister Tony Abbott clashed over the latter’s role as the party’s new federal president.

Asked on Monday during a radio appearance if she would be ready and able to contest the next election, which is likely to be held when she is almost 74, Hanson said: “It will come down to my health. I’ve got nothing wrong with me. I take no medication, nothing. I’ve got more energy in me than a lot of these other people.”

“My staff are flat out keeping up with me from eight o’clock in the morning till 10, 11 o’clock at night. I can still run down the halls of parliament in my heels when I have to get to the chamber. So don’t underestimate me,” she said.

Hanson said she had instructed staff to “tap me on the shoulder” should she “become like a Joe Biden”. Former prime minister Robert Menzies is the oldest person to serve as prime minister, retiring at 71.

Her comments came as Hanson said she was ready to serve as the nation’s prime minister, after polling published in The Australian Financial Review on Sunday evening had One Nation claiming 31 per cent of the primary vote, in front of Labor at 28 per cent and the Coalition at 20 per cent.

The poll is the first major survey to record One Nation with a higher primary vote than Labor.

In the most recent Resolve Political Monitor, published by this masthead on May 17, Labor recorded a primary vote of 29 per cent, One Nation 24 per cent and the Coalition 23 per cent.

Convention holds that the prime minister sits in the House of Representatives, and Hanson has started discussing a move from the Senate as her party’s polling has improved. There has been speculation that she could run in a number of Queensland electorates, including the Coalition-held seats of Capricornia and Wright or the Labor-held seats of Oxley and Blair.

Speaking to Sydney radio on Monday, Hanson said there was no constitutional requirement for the prime minister to sit in the House and that she would consider her options.

Health Minister Mark Butler dismissed the polling, which showed Labor in second place for the first time in this term of government.

“I wouldn’t read too much into the numbers. We’re two years out from an election. There’ll be a million polls between now and election day, which will determine future government,” Butler told ABC radio.

Wilson blamed the poll result on the government for angering voters with last month’s budget.

“We’re a political party that’s focused on building out a story and vision for the future of Australia. What Australians are right now is despairing of the state of this government,” Wilson told ABC radio on Monday.

“I’m absolutely convinced that not just we will be here in the next parliament, but we will go on to win.”

Abbott, conceded on Friday that the party faced an existential threat but has vowed to restore confidence.

“Our society is fragmenting, our strategic situation is deteriorating. This government is making everything worse … In the end, this is a government that doesn’t really believe in Australia,” Abbott told Nine’s Today on Monday.

Asked about Hanson’s soaring popularity, Abbott said: “I’m not into disparaging someone who has been around and has shown a lot of resilience and consistency over the years, but I do believe that the strong Liberal-National Coalition has proven again and again that we are capable of giving Australia the good government our country so desperately needs.”

Abbott and Wilson were at odds about the former’s new job on Monday, with Wilson describing the presidential role as “administrative” and secondary to parliamentary leader Angus Taylor.

Abbott responded that he was the “organisational leader, not the political leader” of the party, but that he did not intend to take “a vow of silence”.

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