Updated ,first published
Senior Liberal MP James Paterson has warned colleagues to stop talking about joining forces with Pauline Hanson’s “high-risk” One Nation, as Barnaby Joyce compared Melbourne to Pyongyang after a fundraiser for the populist party was cancelled and moved due to security concerns.
Liberal MPs have been publicly debating all week whether the party should do a preference swap deal with One Nation at the next election, which is nearly two years away, with party leader Angus Taylor and party president Tony Abbott both open to swapping preferences.
Frontbencher Tony Pasin went a step further and suggested the Coalition and One Nation should do a seat-sharing deal – an idea that was swiftly ruled out – while senior shadow minister Jane Hume said on Friday that preferencing One Nation was “not on the cards”.
Paterson, one of the most respected figures on the Coalition frontbench, said it was in Labor’s and One Nation’s interest for public debate to continue about who the Liberals should preference, as it drove his party’s vote down.
“Those of us who want to drive the Liberal vote up should not be engaging in this debate because we can’t answer the question this far out [from the election],” he said.
“One Nation are a very high-risk potential dance partner because of their policies and failure to adequately vet candidates. They are not a party I want to formally associate with this far out from the election.”
Paterson’s comments came after a week in which Once Nation claimed its fundraising campaign website raised $3 million in just over two days as senior Labor figures, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, questioned the amount raised.
Hanson hit back by posting an audit to social media she said proved the money brought in by the “fire the liar” fundraiser was legitimate.
Hanson said the audit “proves the site and money is ridgy-didge”, scoffing at suggestions the donations were illegitimate and challenging the prime minister to demonstrate his own fundraising success.
“Why would I call out the liar, fire the liar, then go and do something like that myself? It would destroy me,” she said on Thursday during a campaign-style national tour of One Nation fundraisers.
Independent contractor and software engineer Daryl Monnink said a review of the website’s data and consultation with the donation code engineer had shown all payments were verified, and the progress bar displayed on the website was accurate. The audit was an informal review of the website commissioned by the party, as opposed to official declarations made to the electoral commission.
Hanson and One Nation MP Joyce flew to Melbourne on Friday morning after sold-out events in Western Australia, but their fundraiser at a restaurant in Moonee Ponds was cancelled by the venue amid concerns about protests. This masthead understands the event held at another venue on Friday night.
Joyce said that if AFL supporters of different teams could discuss their sport “but you can’t have a political conversation in Melbourne, then we have arrived in a sad place”.
“This is Melbourne, not Pyongyang. You might not agree with what we have to say, but you shouldn’t shut down political debate,” he said, while adding that the furore over the fundraiser was free advertising for One Nation.
Earlier on Friday, Australian Labor Party president Wayne Swan said he was unconvinced by One Nation’s fundraising claim, telling Nine’s Today show he doubted its success because Labor had not raised similar sums.
Asked how much his own party’s social media campaign – which appealed for donations to stop the rise of One Nation and spurred Hanson to launch her own fundraiser in retaliation – had made, Swan said: “I haven’t the faintest idea, but I can tell you it won’t be $2 million, and I doubt very much whether One Nation has raised $2 million.”
Swan labelled the campaign a “complete farce” and accused the minor party of using it to portray donations from wealthy sponsors as grassroots support.
“One Nation are the billionaires’ party. They’re pretending they’re running small donations, and they’re running money from Gina Rinehart and many other wealthy individuals.”
The details of the millions in donations will not be made public until the Australian Electoral Commission publishes its declaration data on February 1. Even then, donations of less than $17,300 will remain anonymous. That threshold will be lowered to $5000 next year as part of an overhaul of laws that will also cap donors giving more than $50,000 to a party.
Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said Albanese had scored “a huge own goal”.
“He sought to raise funds against his political opponents by trying to put them down, and they returned fire. And it turns out Australians don’t like the Labor Party’s budget,” the Nationals senator said.
Labor frontbencher Mark Butler sought to downplay the significance of the One Nation fundraiser and turn it into an attack, casting the minor party’s surge in popularity as a reshaping of conservative politics in Australia.
“These online fundraising campaigns are pretty common, and this will probably pale in comparison to the money that One Nation receives from a billionaire like Gina Rinehart,” Butler told Seven.
Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
Emily Kaine is a national news blogger at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
James Massola is chief political commentator. He was previously national affairs editor and South-East Asia correspondent. He has won Quill and Kennedy awards and been a Walkley finalist. Connect securely on Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect via X or email.
