Pauline Hanson has declared she would like to be prime minister one day, as the One Nation leader weighs up running for the lower house at the next election.
The political veteran has also backed in Angus Taylor’s plan to index income tax brackets but opposed an increase in the minimum wage, saying it would put too much pressure on small businesses that are already struggling.
One Nation has soared in the polls over recent months, either rivalling or overtaking the Coalition on primary votes in surveys since February.
The minor party’s first lower house MP to have been elected under the One Nation brand, David Farley, will take his seat in Parliament on Tuesday.
Senator Hanson declared that she was no longer just a problem for the Coalition but for the government too.
“It’s not just about the Coalition, it’s about Labor, it’s about the Greens, it’s about everyone,” she told Sky News on Sunday.
She said she was actively considering giving up her Senate spot and running for a House of Representatives seat at the next election, due by May 2028.
“It is in the mix, but I’m not making a decision now, and I’m not going to tell anyone what I’m doing at this moment, because I haven’t clearly made up my mind,” Senator Hanson said.
“Do I want to be Prime Minister? Well, I tell you what, I won’t knock the job, because I believe that I have the ability to do it. I’m not going to underestimate myself.”
A recent Redbridge MRP poll, which uses a large survey base to assess what could happen in individual seats, suggested One Nation could win up to 59 seats on current levels of support.
If that was realised, it would wipe out the Nationals, reduce the Liberals to a small rump, and make One Nation the official opposition to a Labor government with a narrow majority.
By convention, the opposition leader – and prime minister – has to be drawn from the lower house, so if Senator Hanson were to remain in the Senate she couldn’t do the job.
Barnaby Joyce said when he left the Nationals to join One Nation late last year that he intended to lead the minor party’s NSW Senate ticket.
However, more recently he has indicated he might run again for his seat of New England if it appears One Nation would win a swathe of lower house contests and have new MPs who needed an experienced guiding hand.
Government frontbencher Jenny McAllister said One Nation was clearly “stepping into a void” created by the division within and between the Liberals and Nationals.
“I think that the challenge for One Nation will be to actually start to articulate some solutions,” she said.
“There are a lot of grievances, a lot of complaints. It’s not really clear what the solutions are that they are offering.”
Over recent weeks, Senator Hanson has announced policies for the Commonwealth to take an equity stake in gas companies in return for higher taxes on exports, and to limit negative gearing to two investment properties per person.
She opposes the Government’s proposed changes to capital gains tax and said on Sunday that she backed the Coalition’s plan to index income tax brackets. One Nation also backs income splitting, and Senator Hanson flagged a need to “overhaul our whole taxation system”, suggesting she wanted to reduce taxes for people who worked overtime hours.
She promised her party would use the Parliamentary Budget Office to cost its policies ahead of the next election, although incorrectly claimed it hadn’t been able to do so before it became a recognised minor party with five parliamentary members.
The PBO says very clearly on its website that “any Senator or Member can request a costing” which will be kept confidential.
In a wide-ranging interview, Senator Hanson also called for public servants to have their pay cut, domestic AI data storage, scrapping the climate change department, lower wages for teenage workers, no requirements for double-glazing in new houses, and for it to be easier for employers to sack people.
With the Fair Work Commission set to make a ruling on the minimum wage this week, Senator Hanson said it shouldn’t increase from its current level of $24.95 per hour or $948 a week full-time because “most businesses are struggling even to make ends meet”.
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