‘Dangerous’: PM takes aim at One Nation amid latest polls
Source: News24
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken aim at Pauline Hanson and “hard-right populists” after One Nation’s weekend byelection victory, as the latest Newspoll showed another shift in the party’s popularity.
In an address to Queensland’s Labor conference on Sunday, Albanese warned of a threat to democracy from those “peddling politics that is dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest”.
“We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history,” he said.
“They’ll say anything and do anything to win votes. Bend any facts, peddle misinformation and disinformation. Turn Australian against Australian.
“Parties like One Nation have no serious answers to our problems.”
The comments come as One Nation has risen to the top again in the latest Newspoll, with support at 30 per cent ahead of Labor on 29 per cent and the Coalition on 19 per cent.
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The survey in The Australian newspaper was carried out the week leading up to One Nation snatching a safe Labor seat in Western Australia’s Secret Harbour byelection on Saturday and coincided with confusion within One Nation over its own migration policy.
As preferred prime minister, Albanese leads with 46 per cent of support to Hanson’s 31 per cent and Taylor on 23 per cent.
Once preferences were distributed between the Labor and One Nation leaders, Albanese maintained his lead over Hanson by a margin of 56 per cent to 44 per cent.
However, a separate Redbridge poll on Monday found One Nation’s primary vote had dropped three points since a month ago to 28 per cent, while Labor’s remained unchanged at 29 per cent. The Coalition’s vote was also unchanged at 22 per cent.
After asking respondents how they would allocate preferences, the poll in the Australian Financial Review showed Labor leading One Nation on a two-party-preferred basis by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
On Sunday, Albanese said One Nation’s rise had laid bare concerning policies.
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“Their own division and disagreements are now showing through. They think Australians are lazy and overpaid, that people working from home are bludging,” he said.
“That domestic violence is sometimes a woman’s fault, that we should – somehow – become a monoculture.
“It’s obvious — One Nation are not on the side of working people.”
Albanese pointed to One Nation’s previous success at the Queensland election in 1998 during its first rise in prominence as a sign of things to come.
“Every time they achieve any success, it leads to chaos and division. Remember when they won 11 seats in Queensland in 1998? They lost all of them in record time,” he said.
“How on Earth will they govern in coalition with the LNP? Because they can’t govern without the LNP, and the LNP can’t govern without them.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said ahead of the speech that Albanese was trying to stereotype the party.
“We have these tropes, bromides and basically fallacious statements that are dribbled out,” he told News24.
“We’re racist – we’re not. We’re homophobes – we’re not. We don’t want to protect women in a domestic violence relationship, that’s crazy.”
Amid rising support in the electorate for One Nation, Albanese said voters needed hope, rather than a list of grievances.
“The best way to defeat this coalition of chaos is to give Australians real hope of a better future, for their country and for their families and themselves,” he said.
“To be the party of progress and optimism and aspiration for everyone.”
-with AAP
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