source : the age
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie ruled out a preference deal or forming a coalition with One Nation, after Labor attempted to tie the state government to Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart.
Bleijie initially deflected when asked about claims his party would join forces with the insurgent populist movement, calling the opposition “grubs” and “dangerous” before saying it would not happen.
“I can absolutely rule it out, we ain’t doing it,” he told reporters in Goondiwindi.
“It’s a proposition the Labor Party are just peddling out there to back Steven Miles’ own leadership, because everyone knows his leadership is coming to a grinding halt … he’s just making this stuff up.”
Bleijie said he believed the LNP could expand its majority at the 2028 state election, which will follow a federal election in the same year.
In the most recent polling conducted for this masthead, One Nation attracted a potential primary vote of 20 per cent – just five per cent behind Labor. The LNP led with 34 per cent.
Hanson’s party has no representation in the Queensland parliament and no state leader.
On Saturday, senior Labor leaders used the party’s annual Queensland conference in Brisbane to attempt to tie the Crisafulli government to Pauline Hanson, arguing arithmetic suggested it would need to join forces with her party to retain power.
“While [the premier] and [Deputy Premier] Bleijie obsess over politics and obsess over trying to look normal, Queenslanders are being left behind,” leader and former premier Steven Miles told hundreds of party faithful.
“If you think they’re bad now, imagine what they would be like in coalition with One Nation, because the next election will be a fight between Labor and a far-right coalition of the LNP and One Nation swapping preferences and hoping to govern together.
“That’s why … Crisafulli has not said a single thing about the rise of One Nation and their far-right agenda.”
Minutes later, deputy Cameron Dick added: “Friends, we stand at a crossroads. A fight for the heart of our nation and the heart of Queensland.
“An unholy alliance is forming – David Crisafulli, Jarrod Bleijie, Pauline Hanson, Gina Rinehart … a coalition of chaos built to entrench the interests of billionaires, importing a brand of hard far-right politics from overseas, desperate to erode the dignity and security Labor governments have delivered for working people.”
At the same event, Miles confirmed Meaghan Scanlon – considered by many to be a future Labor leader in Queensland – would recontest her seat of Gaven on the Gold Coast, after a redistribution seen as unfavourable to the party.
“The LNP might think their gerrymander would make Meaghan run away, but instead, she’s running straight at it,” he said.
“She’s prepared to fight, and fight hard.”
On Monday, Bleijie suggested an unfavourable redistribution was no reason to consider a seat change and the saga reflected poorly on Scanlon.
“What’s the surprise? It’s her electorate,” he said.
“There shouldn’t have even been a question.
“The fact that Meaghan Scanlon actually considered abandoning the people of Gaven for her leadership ambitions and going to a safe Labor seat, and then ruled that out, just shows that she doesn’t care about Gaven.”
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