Australia’s federal political landscape has been thrown into fresh flux after senior Liberal Party figure Angus Taylor confirmed the centre-right opposition is open to striking a electoral alliance with Pauline Hanson’s right-wing populist One Nation party, a development that follows growing momentum for Hanson’s movement and public backing for a partnership from a senior Liberal heavyweight. The comments come on the heels of Western Australia’s state Liberal leader Basil Zempilas recently stating he was also willing to collaborate with One Nation, setting the stage for a debate over the future of preference arrangements ahead of any upcoming national and state elections.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Taylor pushed back against questions over whether pursuing a partnership with One Nation is appropriate, framing the party’s top priority as restoring public confidence after years of electoral setbacks. “What is appropriate is to be winning back the trust of the Australian people,” Taylor argued. He added that while he ultimately hopes to secure a majority of first-preference votes from Australian voters, the party recognizes it must repair broken trust with working-class Australians who feel disillusioned and let down by the current federal Labor administration.
Taylor stressed that the Western Australian Liberal branch retains full autonomy to make its own decisions about local electoral arrangements, but drew a clear line on the federal opposition’s broader approach: “we will work, as I said earlier, with whoever we can to get rid of this rotten Labor government.” The senior Liberal went on to echo widespread frustration among opposition ranks, acknowledging that the Coalition has suffered a nosedive in public approval, and that the anger among voters is justified. “They are angry, and I completely understand why,” he said. “They are swinging the bat now. We have to do better as a party, and I’ve said this many times to rebuild trust with Australians, and we have to lay out our plans every day.”
Taylor accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of failing to deliver on his promises, leaving many Australian voters feeling betrayed. “I want Australians to get that Australian journey back, and it’s disappearing under this government,” he said. “This Prime Minister has no idea. He has no idea. And, so I can understand why they’re angry.”
Taylor’s comments are the second high-profile endorsement of a potential arrangement with One Nation in as many days. On Monday, new Liberal Party federal president and former prime minister Tony Abbott publicly threw his support behind a preference swap deal between the two parties, a long-debated strategy that has divided the centre-right in Australia for decades.
The push for closer ties with One Nation comes at a time when Hanson’s party is seeing historic gains at the polls. The most recent Newspoll data shows One Nation has overtaken Labor on primary vote share for the first time in the party’s history, a seismic shift in Australian voting intentions. The party has also built momentum off recent electoral breakthroughs in South Australia and in the former New South Wales Liberal seat of Farrer once held by ex-opposition frontbencher Sussan Ley. Even with these gains, One Nation has faced growing scrutiny in recent days over its housing policy, marked by public confusion and sudden policy backflips from the party’s sitting members of parliament.
For the Liberal Party, Taylor has positioned the party around a platform of lower national taxes and addressing the country’s ongoing housing affordability crisis through strict cuts to net immigration levels.