Malcolm Turnbull needs Pauline Hanson to stay in power: Galaxy poll
MALCOLM Turnbull might distance himself from Pauline Hanson, but polls are pointing to a painful reality the Prime Minister must face.
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull faces relying on Pauline Hanson to stay in power, as a new poll reveals his ever-shrinking Queensland vote is at the mercy of One Nation.
Support for the Turnbull Government in Queensland has slipped to 35 per cent, down a whopping eight points since last year’s election.
The Hanson juggernaut’s primary vote has skyrocketed since the election from 5.5 per cent to 18 per cent in the latest Galaxy poll, taken exclusively for The Courier-Mail on February 8-9.
The sample of 867 voters was taken on, and the day after, the Prime Minister delivered Bill Shorten a much-heralded verbal uppercut.
It is widely thought that to win The Lodge, political parties need to win Queensland.
Preferences based on the July election would give Mr Turnbull a narrow two-party-preferred win of 51-49.
However, his success would be dependent on the preference flow from One Nation.
The poll also reinforces bad news for Mr Shorten, with Labor’s primary vote falling from 30.9 per cent to 29 per cent. The Greens have also lost slight ground (8.8 per cent to 8 per cent).
If an election were held today, Independents would win 10 per cent of the primary vote.
The poll reveals about one in four voters in Queensland have turned their back on the major parties and the Greens.
In Question Time yesterday, Labor tried to embarrass Mr Turnbull over any potential deal with One Nation.
But the Government hit back, saying the ALP would not currently hold at least three seats, including the Queensland electorates of Herbert and Longman, if not for One Nation preferences.
In the Senate, the One Nation leader unleashed a torrent of abuse against Labor.
“Labor has approached One Nation for preferences ... Evan Moorhead, the Queensland state secretary ... called up my staff on January 25th and wanted to do a grubby deal,” Senator Hanson said.
“He wanted One Nation to run dead in Queensland Labor seats and in return Labor would run dead in One Nation strongholds or in seats they had no chance of winning. So don’t talk about grubby deals.”
Mr Moorhead said Senator Hanson’s claims were “absolute crap”.
Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull needs Pauline Hanson to stay in power: Galaxy poll
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