Senior Liberal frontbencher James Paterson has conceded the Coalition has “serious work to do” to win back disillusioned voters, as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation surges ahead of both Labor and the Coalition in the polls.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night, the Shadow Defence Minister acknowledged the Liberal Party had lost the trust of many traditional supporters and warned rebuilding that support would take time.
“We’ve got serious work to do. We understand how serious this moment is for the party and we very clearly need to demonstrate conviction, unity, discipline, focus and competence over a sustained period of time to earn back that trust that we’ve lost,” Mr Paterson said.
Asked whether the Liberals should take on One Nation, Mr Paterson said the party was “not our enemy but they are a political opponent”.
“They are trying to take votes and seats off the Liberal Party and with their increased prominence in the polls brings increased legitimate scrutiny on their performance, on their policies, on the candidates, on their conduct.”
He also pointed to a report in The Australian that claimed Senator Hanson had missed 88 per cent of Senate Estimates Committee hearings over the past decade.
“For an opposition or crossbench senator, senate estimates is core business and not showing up to 88 per cent of those hearings frankly is shirking your responsibilities when we are paid very well by taxpayers to do it,” he said.
The comments came as newly installed Liberal Party president Tony Abbott vowed to win back conservative voters after a new poll showed One Nation overtaking both Labor and the Coalition to become Australia’s most popular political party.
The latest AFR/Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll found One Nation had leapfrogged both the mainstream parties, with the populist party’s primary vote climbing to 31 per cent, surpassing both Labor at 28 per cent and the Coalition at 20 per cent.
Mr Abbott, who was sworn in as federal Liberal Party president on Friday, told Channel 9 his job was to “turn around” the once-fringe party’s soaring popularity with voters and re-establish the Coalition as a credible alternative government.
“My job is to help (Opposition Leader) Angus Taylor to turn that around, and I’m confident that over time we can,” the former prime minister said on Monday.
But when pressed on One Nation’s threat to the Liberals, Mr Abbott insisted his job was not to “fight on the right”. He also refused to criticise Senator Hanson’s ambitions to be prime minister after the Queensland senator told Sky News Sunday Agenda last week she had the “ability” to serve in the top job.
“I’m not into disparaging someone who has been around and has shown a lot of resilience and consistency over the years,” he said. “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,” he said.
Mr Abbott later conceded there had been a “huge surge for political alternatives” when asked about the rise of One Nation. But he backed Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s ability to lead the embattled Liberals and Nationals into government.
“I think that Angus Taylor’s budget reply was a magnificent statement of how things would be different and better under a new government,” Mr Abbott told 2GB. “I hope that my presence as the president will persuade the sceptics that we are fair dinkum about being different and better this time than last time.”
Mr Abbott said his motivation to oust Labor included fierce opposition to its proposed changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing, which he described as a “a full frontal assault on wealth creation”.
“This is at the heart of the Australian dream, and it’s now under attack from a government which promised not to do these things, not once, but 50 times, in the Prime Minister’s own words,” Mr Abbott said.
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie later questioned whether Senator Hanson would have the “energy” to be prime minister.
“I think she has to declare where she will run on the lower house if she is going to run to be prime minister, but it is correct to ask a few questions about her drive and commitment and energy,” he said.
Mr Hastie pointed to reporting about Senator Hanson’s attendance at senate estimates. “It was revealed today that she has been absent for 88 per cent of estimates over the last decade,” he said.
Mr Hastie continued: “Up until this point, she has been running a political party, but she is now talking about being prime minister. For that you need drive and commitment and energy, and I think the attendance record shows otherwise.”
Health Minister Mark Butler earlier batted away concerns about One Nation’s ascent in the polls, telling the ABC: “I wouldn’t read too much into the numbers.”
“We’re two years out from an election,” he said. “There’ll be a million polls between now and the election day which will determine future government.”
‘Backwards move’: Steggall on Abbott’s election
Responding to the poll, independent MP Zali Steggall – who currently holds Mr Abbott’s old seat of Warringah – said she was surprised by the number of voters looking for an alternative party, but that those votes may not necessarily go to One Nation.
“I think what it shows is so many Australian voters are really frustrated and disillusioned with the major parties,” she said. “Both Labor and the Coalition are failing to listen to communities and to provide real solutions for the problems they face.”
She said the Liberal Party’s decision to appoint Tony Abbott as party president was a step backwards towards a leader who “views the heyday of Australia is the 1950s White Australia”.
“He has been an instrument of demise of the Liberal Party,” she said. “It’s for the Liberal Party to determine whether going back to the past is how they’re going to better address the future.”
When asked what this shift in recent polling could mean for the teals, Ms Steggall said it could “validate” the introduction of a separate teals party.
“It validates the question that a lot of Australians are feeling frustrated and are feeling politically homeless,” she said. “They don’t see the major parties as clearly addressing the issues they’re facing from cost of living, from climate change, housing affordability, all those things.”
Ms Steggall said while she doesn’t have any “major announcement”, she is consulting with her community.
“We want to make sure that Warringah has that leadership and representation, but also we want to address these national issues, from housing affordability to climate risk and how we’re managing the economy, how we’re managing defence, all these require a clear consultation policy,” she said.
Joyce defends Hanson’s attendance record
Earlier, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce defended Senator Hanson’s habit of skipping parliament, despite the Queensland senator cashing in on a taxpayer-funded salary of more than $300,000 per year.
Analysis of Senator Hanson’s attendance records, first reported by The Australian, revealed she had missed 88 per cent of Senate estimate hearings over the past decade.
But Mr Joyce told Channel 7 these figures reflected the fact that committees were “chaired by Labor or the Coalition”.
“One Nation doesn’t get to chair committees, and so it’s obviously they get swayed towards to what (the major parties) want to do,” he said.
While committees responsible for scrutinising government bills – dubbed legislation committees – are led by government senators, references committees – which scrutinise policy issues and handle broad inquiries – are led by chairs from a mix of the opposition and minor parties.
For example, the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee is chaired by Labor senator Varun Ghosh, while the Environment and Communications References Committee is chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Mr Joyce also claimed Senator Hanson’s status as party leader meant it was “not unusual” she was asked to go to “a range of things”.
“As does the leader of the Labor Party, as does the leader of the Liberal Party,” he said.
“Pauline is the leader of the most popular polling party in Australia. She’s going to get asked to (address) a lot of issues,” he said.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, appearing on the same panel as Mr Joyce, promptly interjected: “We turn up to parliament though.”
“Our leaders turn up to parliament,” Ms Plibersek said.
