Advertisement

Hanson slams ‘arrogant’ Liberals over election rebuff

Pauline Hanson says the Liberals will need an attitude change before the Victoria election.

Pauline Hanson says the Liberals will need an attitude change before the Victoria election. Photo: AAP

Federal One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson called on Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson to “get rid of the arrogance” and consider forming a coalition government.

Asked about doing a preference deal with the Liberals for the November state election, Hanson said there would first need to be a change in attitude from Wilson and her party.

“To have the sheer arrogance saying we’re not going to form a coalition, I don’t want a coalition with them either,” she told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Tuesday.

“If they have a certain number of elected members and we have a certain number of elected members, will we join our numbers to actually make sure we can form a government to get rid of the Labor government?

“(We are) quite willing to talk, by all means … get rid of the arrogance, Jess.”

Wilson has previously ruled out an alliance with One Nation, maintaining her focus is on winning with a majority.

The Liberal-Nationals need a net gain of 16 seats in the 88-seat lower house to form a majority government and end 12 straight years of Labor rule in the state.

Hanson was joined in the radio booth by recently appointed Victorian One Nation Leader Warren Pickering, who said a priority of any government he led would be addressing crime and reforming the judicial system.

“We want to make, firstly, bleeding-heart judges accountable for these second-time offences,” Pickering said.

“We’ve got to get rid of this tag-and-release program that’s just making Victorians feel unsafe.”

Hanson cited mandatory sentences as a way to ensure punishment meted out by judges was aligned with community expectations.

She advocated for an independent board that would scrutinise judges and allow them to face potential consequences, including losing their jobs.

“The people have a right to say, ‘hey listen mate, you’re not giving us the sentence that befits the crime’,” Hanson said.

While yet to detail further, specific policies, Pickering foreshadowed a “comprehensive” document and asked voters to withhold judgement until they had an opportunity to read it.

Primary-vote support for One Nation in Victoria has fallen to the low 20s in recent polls but it remains the third main choice behind the coalition and Labor.

Some voters were starting to view One Nation as a “sideshow”, election analyst Kevin Bonham said.

“This is an election where there is a strong mood for a lot of people of ‘let’s throw the government out’ and it’s harder for a minor party to sustain such high poll numbers … in the face of that,” he said.

One Nation could win a small number of lower-house Victorian seats but its best chances lay in the upper house, Bonham said.

“They have taken a very long time to make announcements about who their leader is, who their candidates are,” he said.

“There is a sort of a sense they’re not really giving it a proper go yet.”

Senator Hanson also addressed her media in the radio interview, after One Nation banned the ABC, The Age and The Guardian from entering a press conference on Monday morning where Pickering’s leadership and seven other candidates were announced.

The same outlets were also barred from covering a Monday night meet-the-candidates function in Hawthorn that sparked a protest, heavy police presence and shutdown nearby streets.

Hanson indicated it was a temporary measure and she would encourage “fair reporting”.

“It won’t be forever and a day,” she said.

“But it’s putting out a message; give us a go.”

-AAP

Want to see more stories from The New Daily in your Google search results?

  1. Click here to set The New Daily as a preferred source.
  2. Tick the box next to "The New Daily". That's it.
Advertisement
Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter.
Copyright © 2026 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.