Penny Wong has accused the Liberal Party of working hand-in-glove with Pauline Hanson. As an insider, I can assure you the Coalition is perfectly capable of co-opting her entire agenda on its own.
Penny Wong has once again stooped to cheap political point-scoring, baselessly claiming this week that a vote for the Liberal Party is a vote for One Nation. It is a grotesque mischaracterization of our democratic process, and it fundamentally misunderstands the immense pride the Coalition takes in arriving at identical conclusions without needing to be told.
As Angus Taylor rightfully clarified, there is absolutely "no plan" to formally carve up seats with Pauline Hanson’s party. I am frankly exhausted by the Canberra press gallery treating the Liberal Party as some sort of puppet to the populist fringe. The reality is far more dignified. When I bumped into Angus at the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge on Tuesday—over a perfectly adequate, if slightly chilled, macadamia-crusted barramundi—he was resolute. He made it abundantly clear that the Coalition will not be outsourcing its dog-whistling to a third party. They have the internal resources to handle it themselves.
The suggestion of a "carved up" electoral map is insulting to the hard-working strategists of the Liberal Party. These men and women spend countless hours figuring out how to launder One Nation's 1998 immigration manifestos into sensible-sounding economic white papers. To suggest they need a formal treaty to accomplish this is to deny them their agency.
The Left simply refuses to understand the nuance of our independence. We do not need a piece of paper to tell us to preference One Nation; we do it out of a deep, unspoken spiritual bond forged in the fires of Sky News after dark.
Furthermore, Wong’s obsession with One Nation’s unverified $1.5 million fundraising haul completely misses the point. Why should the Coalition worry about Hanson’s war chest when they both intend to spend the exact same money terrorizing the exact same marginalized demographics? A rising tide of reactionary populism lifts all boats, provided those boats are heavily policed and immediately turned back at the border.
It is much like the government’s newly announced $100 million for arthritis research. Critics might say the Liberal Party’s joints are stiffening, that it is locked in an agonizing, calcified posture of permanent culture war. But I say that stiffness is exactly what allows the party to stand so rigidly alongside Pauline Hanson without ever formally acknowledging her presence. It takes immense core strength to lean that far to the right while insisting you are standing dead center.
Wong also claimed this week that there is a "fragile ceasefire" between the two parties, and that what Australia wants is a "negotiated end to the war." This is typical Labor hysterics. There is no war between the Coalition and One Nation. There is only a mature, unspoken synergy. One Nation functions as the Coalition’s id—screaming the quiet parts out loud in regional town halls—so that the Liberal frontbench can thoughtfully nod along three weeks later in a slightly nicer suit.
So please, Senator Wong, spare us the conspiracy theories about backroom deals and secret treaties. There is no alliance. There is only a proud, independent Coalition, standing entirely on its own two feet, marching in perfect, totally coincidental lockstep with One Nation toward the exact same precipice.