One Nation is the Federal Parliament’s fifth-largest party by the number of elected MPs. But as the nation’s current and aspiring rulers returned to Parliament today after a two-week break, the protest party of the right influenced debate far out of proportion to its modest representation.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers used a Dorothy Dixer — a friendly, planned question — to argue that a plan proposed by One Nation today to give workers limited access to their superannuation savings means “it is now beyond any doubt that any Coalition with One Nation in it will cut super”. “They will end super as we know it and make Australians poorer as a consequence,” he said.

Dr Chalmers made similar comments on social media and as he arrived at Parliament House on a cold, clear morning in Canberra.

The assertions were unfair, misleading and deceptive in two ways: the Coalition’s leaders have repeatedly ruled out sharing ministries with One Nation, even if they require its support to form government. Secondly, One Nation wants to allow employees to get immediate access to one quarter of their super payments, or 3 per cent of their wage, while paying the lower super tax rate of 15 per cent.

The plan is a response to the plight of Australians suffering through inflation and a system that seems incapable of delivering higher wages.

The idea isn’t radical, or new. Economists have long argued that the more money employers are forced to pay into superannuation — this government raised the Superannuation Guarantee from 10 per cent to 12 per cent — the less there is for regular wage rises.

Among those who understand the maths of super is the shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, who was kicked out of question time by Speaker Milton Dick for heckling Dr Chalmers while he was answering the question.

“Labor doesn’t want super for you,” Mr Wilson said he had called out. “They’ve earmarked it for organised crime.”

The crime reference was another example of how One Nation is managing to influence the policy debate in Canberra. The Coalition has taken up One Nation’s plan to cut tobacco taxes (although says it worked on the policy six months), and on Monday used question time to draw attention to the proposal, which is a politically daring response to a serious problem.

The result was a flip in a conventional political dynamic. Liberal leader Angus Taylor said last week he went to a street in Melbourne where 10 small businesses were firebombed in July. His solution was a tax cut, while Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke channelled Peter Dutton, the former Liberal leader and ex-policeman who loved applying uniforms to a problem.

“The way to deal with this has to be through law enforcement,” Mr Burke said. “By bringing together the Australian Federal Police, Austrac, the Criminal Intelligence Commission.”

Cognitive dissonance

Everyone involved knows what the problem is. Tobacco excise has driven packets of cigarettes to about $50, while the illicit versions are available for about $15, a discount encouraging smokers to smoke more. Mr Taylor, an economist by profession if not temperament, believes lowering the official price will undercut criminals and help the public purse.

The cognitive dissonance was amplified by Health Minister Mark Butler. He praised Queensland’s Liberal-National Government for a tough approach to cigarette smuggling and vape sales, and South Australia, while singling out his fellow Labor ministers in Victoria and New South Wales for being slow to wield law’s heavy hands.

“The two big States, which have been frankly too slow to act,” he said. “We need them doing the same thing as the Queensland LNP is doing and the South Australian Government is doing as well.”

Lest voters fear the Coalition is too friendly with tobacco companies, Dr Chalmers read out an impressive list of Coalition politicians he said had previously opposed what is now their policy. Their names were James Paterson, Anne Ruston, Dean Smith, Bridget McKenzie and Jonno Duniam.

“We will take the advice of the experts and not the advice of the One Nation party,” the Treasurer said.

Pauline Hanson, a senator, must love the free publicity she receives from the House of Representatives.

$22bn baby bonus

In the to-and-fro between the political giants, two minor moments were almost missed.

Bob Katter, the Queenslander who wrote the independents’ playbook well before the teals arrived in Canberra, came up with a solution for one of the greatest-but-little-discussed problems facing Australia: a birth rate well below the level needed to sustain the population.

Unfortunately, paying mothers $75,000 per baby would cost about $22 billion a year, such a stupendous sum that Dr Chalmers didn’t bother saying if he would consider the idea.

In between questions about crime gangs and super steals, the Speaker declared that six representatives of the Japanese Parliament were present, including the president of their Senate, accompanied by their ambassador.

It may be a matter of national honour they did not arrive last month when Anthony Albanese was asked to apologise to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for his infamous podcast melon-reference. In Japan’s male-dominated political system, only one representative was a woman, another example of how great Ms Takaichi’s achievement was to become a world leader and why she deserves respect.