SA premier warns One Nation poses threat to federal Labor as Marles says party only ‘about stunts and the vibe’ | One Nation

The Albanian government has sharpened its attacks on One Nation as a party of “spectacle and excitement” after South Australian premier Pauline Hanson warned there was a threat to Labor following the historic state election result.

The Federal Coalition is also stepping up the pressure, warning One Nation to expect greater scrutiny of its policy positions as it tries to prevent an SA-style collapse in other parts of the country.

After Saturday’s vote, a nation can have seven MPs in both houses of the SA parliament, leaving the Liberal opposition with more than 22% of the primary vote.

While the right-wing populist party won its strongest vote in once-safe Liberal seats in regional and rural areas, it also won more than 30 per cent of Labor voters in the outer suburbs.

Labor is expected to hold all these seats due to preference flows, but the tilt towards One Nation shows the risk this poses for both major parties.

Asked on Monday whether One Nation was a threat at the federal level, South Australian Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas said: “Yes, I am.”

“I think we need to take this issue seriously. I don’t think One Nation, or any political party for that matter, should be written off,” Malinauskas told Nine’s Today programme.

“I think it’s important to understand what’s driving this surge, not to belittle anyone or belittle anyone else’s point of view. And I think it has consequences for my party as well as for the Liberal party.”

Setting out a potential template for his federal counterparts, the SA premier put forward an alternative, progressive example of patriotism to counter Hanson’s notion of national pride.

Barnaby Joyce, One Nation’s only lower house MP in Canberra, said Labor was targeting the party because it was seen as the “real opposition”.

“They need to play man because they clearly know One Nation clearly stands for something and is the alternative to Labour,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles used question time to attack One Nation, a party that “has so far been only for demonstrations and excitement”.

Labor federal chairman Wayne Swan went further to claim that One Nation “does not offer an alternative economic agenda, only culture-war camouflage for a wealth concentration agenda”.

“Barnaby Joyce’s air of hollow victory is telling. He’s cheering on a movement that heads to Mar-a-Lago with billionaires to learn how to run elections but doesn’t spend a minute developing serious policies to address the real challenges of Australians,” Swan told Guardian Australia.

“This is the policy imported wholesale from the American and British far right. These are the same forces that led to 30 years of wage stagnation in the US, hollowed out the middle class and brought Donald Trump and Brexit to the world.”

The collapse of the Liberal vote in SA has sparked a new round of soul-searching within the federal Coalition, with MPs holding conflicting views on how best to respond to the rise of One Nation.

The opposition, led by Angus Taylor, is expected to announce a new plan to reduce immigration ahead of the May 9 Farrer by-election, the first federal test of Hanson’s support.

Other lawmakers are pushing to prioritize economic policies, including tax reform, to help rebuild the party’s economic reputation.

SA Liberal senator and state party chair Leah Blyth said voters made a “deliberate choice” to abandon One Nation.

“The One Nation vote is not the problem, it is the symptom. It reflects voters who no longer feel that we are speaking out or standing firmly,” he said.

“If we are serious about governing again, we have to be serious about who we are, not who we think we are.”

Shadow immigration minister Jonno Duniam has signaled greater scrutiny of One Nation’s policies following its success in SA.

“If they’re serious about being a major party, and their leader, Senator Hanson, says they are, then they can be held to the same standard as Angus Taylor and Anthony Albanese on the details because I think that’s what will make a difference,” he told Sky News.