The Australian Labor Party has intensified its offensive against One Nation, issuing a direct appeal for financial contributions through paid social media advertisements. The ads warn supporters not to let Pauline Hanson convert her party's 'momentum into seats' and specifically name One Nation as the target of the campaign.
Labor's Direct Appeal
The advertisement, addressed 'TO ALL LABOR SUPPORTERS,' begins with a plea: 'Please don't scroll past this.' It continues: 'We are asking you to contribute any amount to Labor's campaign to take on One Nation today.' The message acknowledges that '99% of people reading this won't contribute' but expresses hope that readers will be different.
The campaign references recent opinion polls showing One Nation ahead of Labor on primary votes. 'If everyone seeing this contributed $27 we'd have the resources to prevent One Nation from turning polling momentum into seats,' the ad states. 'If that's worth $27 to you, please chip in today.'
New Polling Data
The attack ads coincide with fresh polling from RedBridge Group and Accent Research, which indicates One Nation could win up to 59 lower house seats if a federal election were held immediately. Such a result would position Senator Hanson's anti-immigration party as the official opposition, reducing the coalition to a handful of seats and forcing Labor into a minority government.
When questioned about a potential partnership with the coalition to form government, Senator Hanson responded: 'Let's just work together.' However, she criticized Liberal leader Angus Taylor, stating: 'The problem with Angus Taylor, he's got a bunch of moderates, progressives in his own party. I'm not going to tie myself to that dog that will not be able to follow through on his promises to the Australian people.'
Coalition Response
Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg acknowledged the polling reflects widespread voter discontent. 'What it shows is there's a huge amount of grievance in the Australian community and I think we have not done a good job in the last 10 years on economic policy,' he said. 'That's my main takeaway ... we should have done more on tax, more on industrial relations, more on super, more on budget stuff and we've just been too similar to Labor over a long period of time.' Bragg maintained that it was not yet time to concede the coalition would need to partner with One Nation, emphasizing voters want an 'economic revolution.'
