Barnaby Joyce has outlined the price of One Nation support for the Coalition in a hung parliament, saying the party would seek pro-mining policies, new dams and the revival of the $45 billion inland rail project in return for helping Angus Taylor become prime minister.
The former Nationals MP, who has defected to One Nation, said the party would also demand the abolition of the climate change department, deregulation of farming, tax cuts including a reduction in tobacco excise, and lower immigration if it held enough seats to support a minority government.
“It won’t be an ideological conversation,” Mr Joyce said of the potential negotiations. “And if we’ve got more numbers than them, we’d expect that deal going back in the other direction. It cuts both ways.”
His comments followed a claim that he had spoken to “very senior” Liberals about confidence and supply, raising the prospect of One Nation helping the Coalition govern if neither major grouping secured a majority.
Mr Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan told colleagues they had not held such discussions with Mr Joyce. Mr Taylor said he had given no authority for anyone else to conduct them.
“No, and I gave no authority to anyone else to have that conversation,” Mr Taylor said when asked whether he knew about the alleged talks.
Mr Joyce declined to identify the Coalition figures he had spoken to, but said One Nation’s position should not be surprising given the possibility of a hung parliament. “Let’s all be adults about this,” he said. “We don’t want chaos; we want to remove the socialists.”
He said One Nation did not want to campaign on a formal coalition with the centre-right party, and challenged Coalition figures to say they would reject the party’s support. He stressed, however, that final decisions about any arrangement would be made by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Coalition figures reject Joyce’s account
Coalition figures have suggested Mr Joyce’s intervention was an attempt to pressure Mr Taylor, while One Nation is targeting seats currently held by Liberal and Nationals MPs.
Tim Wilson dismissed the alleged discussions as “a figment of Barnaby’s imagination” and said Mr Joyce may regret joining a party where he no longer controlled events. Mr Joyce responded: “Yeah, Tim, I just made it up. I get bored, mate. Clown.”
Jane Hume also questioned the claim, saying she was “pretty sure that this is Barnaby clutching at straws” and referring to possible “post-purchase dissonance”.
There has been speculation that Mr Joyce spoke to former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, but Mr Abbott rejected that suggestion. South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic is the most senior Liberal to have publicly called for some form of co-operation with One Nation.
Under a confidence-and-supply arrangement, non-government MPs support the administration in votes on whether it retains Parliament’s confidence and on government spending, allowing it to continue operating without a majority.
