‘Eternity of pain’: Liberal leader rules out One Nation alliance

Angus Taylor has ruled out forming a coalition with One Nation, shrugging off Pauline Hanson’s calls for conservatives to work together to defeat Labor.

In a major speech on Thursday, the opposition leader warned a One Nation government would result in an “eternity of pain”, as the populist party rises in the polls and the Liberal-National coalition sinks to historic lows.

Taylor attacked the One Nation leader’s policies in his Sydney Institute speech, warning they would cost $1 trillion over a decade and were a random bag of “poorly defined and constantly changing positions”.

Taylor later said he would not team up with One Nation in order to get rid of the Labor government.

“The number-one thing we want to see is a change of government. There’s no question about that. But we don’t believe that One Nation can provide the solution,” he told ABC TV on Friday.

“Our focus isn’t on some kind of coalition or alliance” with One Nation, he said, adding ”our focus is on getting rid of a rotten Labor government, and I want us to be in government in our own right”.

Following the speech, Hanson said Taylor’s priorities were wrong.

“I’m very disappointed with this. You know, Angus, I’m not your enemy. We both need to get rid of the Labor, the Greens government,” she said in a video posted from London to social media.

“You can reflect back on your budget reply speech. You picked up and said a lot of One Nation’s policies.

“The people of Australia are crying out for change. Listen to the people, Angus, and work with me. Stop denigrating One Nation and work together.”