But rules out official coalition

One Nation leader says voters ‘want to get rid of the Labor party, by all means’ but rejects possibility of formal power-sharing partnership
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Pauline Hanson says One Nation wants to work with the Liberals and Nationals – including on preferences deals – to defeat Labor and has offered to prop-up a future minority Coalition government.

But Hanson ruled out forming an official coalition with the two conservative parties, declaring she will never agree to an arrangement “where I will be told what I can say, what I can do ”.

The Liberals and Nationals are wrestling with how to respond to One Nation’s surging support, which threatens to erode their already diminishing voter base across the country.

The first proof of a realignment of the political right came at last weekend’s South Australian state election, where One Nation could win up to four once-safe Liberal seats.

The ABC has called the seat of Ngadjuri for One Nation while the party is also favoured to win MacKillop, Narungga and Hammond.

The federal Coalition is preparing to apply greater scrutiny to Hanson’s policy agenda as it attempts to prevent an SA-style collapse nationwide.

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, used closed-door party room meetings on Tuesday to emphasise the need to fight One Nation without criticising or alienating their supporters.

Liberals sources said Taylor made clear that One Nation was not an ally, citing its decision to reject a preference deal with the party in SA.

The SA Liberals encouraged voters to preference One Nation ahead of Labor, but the the right-wing populist party did not reciprocate.

Speaking at a Minerals Council event on Wednesday, Hanson accused the federal Liberals of “bloody-mindedness” for acting as though One Nation was the enemy.

She signalled the party was prepared to do deals in the future, noting One Nation had agreed to preference swaps with the LNP at the 2024 Queensland state election and with the Coalition at the 2025 federal election.

“People want change.

They want to get rid of the Labor party , by all means.

So as I said, work with me,” she said in a message to Taylor and the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan.

Hanson guaranteed One Nation would offer confidence and supply to a future Coalition minority government, but ruled out a formal power-sharing partnership.

“I will not form a coalition with them, where I will be told what I can say, what I can do, what policies I can put up like they’ve controlled the National party and shut them down.

I will get them supply and I will give them confidence.

Don’t ever try and tell me what I can and can’t do,” she said.

The first federal test of Hanson’s support will come at the Farrer byelection on 9 May.

One Nation and the independent Michelle Milthorpe are considered the early favourites in the four-cornered contest, meaning Liberal and National preferences could determine the final result.

Andrew McLachlan, a South Australian Liberal senator, said One Nation was “not our friends”, describing its refusal to direct preferences in SA as an “act of war” that only helped widen Labor’s margin of victory.

“In my view we should always preference One Nation last.

If you hold to Liberal values then you cannot abide by One Nation’s negative perspective on our amazing and beautiful multicultural nation,” McLachlan said.

“As a Liberal who engages with multicultural communities, I see firsthand the impact of One Nations’s toxic politics on my fellow Australians.”
The environment minister, Murray Watt, said the shift on the political right meant the Coalition and One Nation would not be able to govern without each other.

“The truth is, that in this new era we are living through, the Liberals and One Nation can only form government together,” Watt said in a separate speech to the Minerals Council event.

“So a vote for the Liberals is a vote for the chaos and division of One Nation and a vote for One Nation is a vote for more Liberal cuts.

That combination will not produce the stable, mature, considered government Australia needs.”