Joyce ‘thanks’ Labor for One Nation poll surge as Hanson says she’s up for PM

Barnaby Joyce has directly linked the surge in support for One Nation to Labor’s recent federal budget, as Pauline Hanson’s party secured another defector from the Coalition.

One Nation’s representation in the House will double on Tuesday with Farrer MP David Farley to be sworn in and sit alongside Joyce, while a well-placed source who asked not to be named said it was possible another high-profile Coalition member could be set to switch allegiances.

Former Liberal state MP Lou Amato flagged on Monday evening that he could switch to One Nation and have another tilt at NSW parliament.

A number of Coalition MPs, including Nationals Llew O’Brien and Colin Boyce and Liberal Alex Antic have been rumoured to be considering a change of party, but all denied they were about to quit the Coalition.

Hanson said on Monday that she was ready to serve as the nation’s prime minister, after polling published in The Australian Financial Review had One Nation claiming 31 per cent of the primary vote, Labor 28 per cent and the Coalition 20 per cent. It is the first time One Nation has led 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.

Joyce, who was the first Coalition MP to defect to One Nation, played down the significance of the poll and said the party needed to be wary of hubris.

“It’s an indicator, it’s humbling, but it is not a vote. It’s the Australian people saying we are right in consideration, but there is a long way to go,” he said.

“Labor has helped us a lot. They did this marvellous thing called the budget, I want to thank them for that, for their help and support”.

Asked about the prospect of another defector to One Nation, Joyce referred to Boyce and said: “I’ll go back to Oscar Wilde, the news of his defection has been greatly exaggerated”.

Before his swearing in, Farley said it was both humbling, exciting “and history-making for One Nation and an especially proud moment for Pauline Hanson”. The date of his first speech has not yet been set.

After One Nation’s rise in the polls, there has been speculation Hanson could run in a number of Queensland lower house electorates, as it is convention that the prime minister sit in the House of Representatives. The seats she could contest include the Coalition-held seats of Capricornia and Wright, or the Labor-held seats of Oxley and Blair.

Asked on Monday during a radio appearance on 2GB 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”.

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

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.

Liberal MPs blamed the latest polling, which placed the Coalition third, on the government for angering voters.

Shadow treasurer Tim 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.”

The Liberal Party’s new president Tony Abbott, who undertook a media blitz on Monday, had warned last week that the party faced an existential threat.

“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.

Abbott and Wilson were at odds about the former’s new job in their commentary on Monday, with Wilson describing the party’s 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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