Pressure mounts on Angus Taylor as Pauline Hanson declares One Nation ‘here for the long haul’ | Farrer byelection 2026
A victorious Pauline Hanson has declared One Nation “here for the long haul” following Angus Taylor’s historic Farrer byelection victory, which sparked internal chatter over his leadership just three months after he took office.
The right-wing populist party won its first federal lower house seat on Saturday night after David Farley defeated independent Michelle Milthorpe.
It was a disastrous result for the Coalition, which has held the seat throughout its 76-year history. Liberals suffered A swing of over 30%. The primary vote fell below 13% in what the opposition leader said was “an existential situation for the Coalition” on Saturday night. The Nationals polled just under 10%.
The result confirms opinion polls showing that support for One Nation has increased since the 2025 federal election, eroding the Liberal and National vote and posing an existential threat to established conservative parties.
“This isn’t just One Nation’s win or Pauline Hanson’s win; that’s not the big picture here. What I’m looking at is Australia’s win,” Hanson told Sky News on Sunday morning.
“We are currently covering major political parties. [They] For too long they have been arrogant, ignoring, disrespecting, taking the voters there for granted, and knowing they are destroying this country. I want my country back. “I want to bring back prosperity.”
In a message to critics who had previously noted that Hanson’s historically dysfunctional party had disintegrated, the One Nation leader said: “People say, you know, they won’t last long. I’m telling you now, we’re going to be here for the long run.”
The Liberals expected to lose Farrer due to the popularity of One Nation and the expected reaction from locals to the sacking of Sussan Ley, who had held the seat for 25 years.
But the extent of the collapse in the primary shocked and alarmed some lawmakers, who privately questioned Taylor’s leadership as the autopsy began Sunday morning.
The Opposition leader said the Liberals would learn “hard lessons” from the result, which he attributed in part to the chaos resulting from two Coalition splits and a “move away” from traditional values.
The comments appeared to place blame on Ley, who managed two spells with the National Team during his nine months in the role.
Ley made a sharp statement on Saturday night suggesting the Coalition was in a worse position than when Taylor unseated him.
Ley’s statement is as follows: “On the day the leadership collapsed in February, the new leader said the Liberal Party had to ‘change or die’.”
“Three months later, the result in Farrer shows that this statement is more true today than ever before.”
One Liberal MP said the Farrer result was “the price of undermining and destroying Susan Ley’s leadership”.
The same MP criticized the party’s decision to favor Farley over Milthorpe on how-to-vote cards as a “betrayal of Liberal values” that gave supporters permission to switch to the right-wing party.
Taylor defended the decision on Saturday night, saying it was what the Liberals in Farrer wanted.
The defeat renewed doubts among moderate MPs about the direction of Taylor and the party he leads; The party appears focused on stopping immigration into One Nation rather than repositioning the Liberals at the political centre.
Liberals fear the party will become “reactive” to One Nation’s agenda, including on immigration.
Two MPs said that while there was no immediate threat to Taylor’s leadership, his colleagues, especially those in the lower house, would start to get “excited” if the situation did not improve.
“Loss [in Farrer] It will take the first step into further leadership speculation with the Coalition,” one MP said.
Former Liberal senator Hollie Hughes, a supporter of Ley and a vocal critic of Taylor, took to social media to mock the opposition leader.
“I guess when you stab someone, the people of the country don’t reward you…” he posted on Facebook.
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, who like Andrew Hastie has been tipped as a future leadership candidate, said the Liberals needed to be “bigger, better, bolder” in response to a “serious situation”.
Speaking on the ABC’s Insiders programme, the Liberal moderate did not rule out working with One Nation in a minority government after the next election.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Farrer result was a “bloodbath” for the Coalition that cast doubt on Taylor’s future.
“Angus Taylor did well in the league and lost very badly,” he told Sky News.
Chalmers said the result showed the Coalition needed to join forces with One Nation if it wanted to return to government, leaving Labor as the only party remaining at the “logical center of Australian politics”.
