Pauline Hanson breaks down during emotional interview over party divisions
PAULINE Hanson has burst into tears during an emotional interview amid her bitter feud with One Nation Senator Brian Burston.
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PAULINE Hanson has burst into tears during an emotional interview amid her bitter feud with One Nation Senator Brian Burston.
In an interview on The Bolt Report, the party leader accused Senator Burton of stabbing her in the back.
She said Senator Burston had attempted to join the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party — a claim he has denied.
“This isn’t the first time Brian has stabbed me in the back, and it hurts me. It hurts me deeply because … it means so much to me, what I’m trying to do,” Senator Hanson told interviewer Ben Fordham.
“And for him to turn around and do this to me, it’s hard. But I’m going to keep going and I’m going to get good people in that Parliament beside me because it means so much to me, to help people who need help.”
A tearful Senator Hanson said voters were “sick of politicians because they don’t do anything”.
“I’ve been able to achieve so much in such a short period of time and I’m not finished.
“And if you think I’m going to let Brian Burston or anyone else to finish me. They will not just sit on the seats and do absolutely nothing and think that they can have a cosy ride and take the pay and the taxpayer funds and not work for it.”
Earlier, Senator Hanson slammed Brian Burston for his decision to vote for the Coalition’s proposed company tax cuts.
Senator Hanson said the rebel One Nation senator wasn’t doing a “dummy spit” or walking away from the party after he broke ranks to support the government’s company tax cuts but did label him a “sellout”.
The One Nation leader said she would be speaking to Senator Burston after he told The Australian he was blindsided by her decision to renege on support for the plan.
Senator Burston told the publication he was a “very principled person” who intended to honour the deal struck with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in March to pass the corporate tax cuts.
“I don’t want to cause any angst or division in One Nation, but once I make a handshake with somebody — that’s it,” Senator Burston said. “I stick to my word.”
A fired up Senator Hanson this morning told reporters Senator Burston had “sold himself out” and she would not be changing her stance.
MORE: Pauline Hanson grilled on company tax cut backflip
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She also rejected claims her backflip was a captain’s call, saying she spoke to Senator Burston last Monday and made her position clear before it was reported on Tuesday.
“It’s unfortunate that Senator Burston will be supporting it. We will chat him in the next few days and it is something we will discuss between us,” she said today.
She said he would remain a member of the party and had reassured her he wasn’t walking away.
“I know he hasn’t been well. I have tried to make contact with him but because of our schedules, we haven’t been able to,” she said.
Senator Hanson said she would not be changing her stance on the government’s policy, which reduces Australia’s corporate tax rate to 25 per cent over the next decade.
Senator Hanson believes the tax changes “will open the floodgates to multinationals” and will result in the destruction of Australian businesses.
Senator Burston said he only found out about Senator Hanson’s decision to withdraw support after it appeared in The Australian last week.
“I keep finding out One Nation policies when I read them in The Australian newspaper,” he said.
Senator Burston’s decision will mean the government now needs only four crossbench senators to pass the company tax cuts.
It could be either the remaining One Nation senator Peter Georgiou, Centre Alliance senators Rex Patrick and Sterling Griff, or Derryn Hinch and Tim Storer.
Senator Burston said he wasn’t sure why Senator Hanson reneged on her support for the tax cuts but he believed the upcoming by-election in Longman in Queensland was a factor.
“My understanding is that Pauline Hanson is getting a lot of flak in Queensland for supporting the tax cut, but I’m not getting flak in NSW,” he said.
“I think Longman may have had something to do with it.”
He said he believed One Nation should stick to the deal it made with Senator Cormann, which included an apprenticeship scheme, an overhaul of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, a royalty shake-up for Western Australia and the introduction of a “use it or lose it” policy for offshore gas reserves.
“After the hour meeting, we shook hands with Mathias Cormann. We agreed to the deal, signed off by the Prime Minister. And I believe we should stick to it,” he told The Australian.
The senator, who earlier this month removed references to One Nation from his Facebook page and has yet to be endorsed as a NSW senate candidate for the party, said his split on the tax cuts was not a sign he was abandoning the party.
“I believe that when I went to One Nation, it was always on the understanding that we had the ability to vote against the other One Nation colleagues,” he said.
“We haven’t built a solid tax policy, therefore I’m not voting against any One Nation policy.”
His decision to back the policy comes after a Newspoll last week found 60 per cent of One Nation voters back the government’s corporate tax cuts.
Senator Cormann told reporters in Canberra this morning the government remains committed to the deal it struck with One Nation.
“The government is very appreciative of the fact that Senator Burston has announced that he will stick to the agreement that was reached,” he said.
He again rejected Senator Hinch’s idea to cap the tax cuts to businesses with an annual turnover of up to $500 million, so the big banks would be exempt.
The minister implored Labor to change its mind on the cuts, insisting jobs are created by successful and profitable businesses.
“My message to Bill Shorten is — jobs don’t grow on trees,” he said.
Two One Nation senators have quit the party since being elected in mid-2016.
West Australian Rod Culleton left the party after months of public disagreements with Senator Hanson in December 2016.
Fraser Anning split with the party on his first day in the Parliament, just one hour after being sworn in to replace former One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts who was ruled ineligible to sit in Parliament for holding dual citizenship.
Mr Anning cited a disagreement between his staff and Senator Hanson.
The Australian reports Senator Burston’s stance on the tax cuts could attract the attention of The National Party, which this week welcomed a new member from the crossbench and has approached Liberal Senator Lucy Gichuhi.
Jacqui Lambie’s replacement Steve Martin joined the party to become their first Tasmanian senator in more than 90 years.
Originally published as Pauline Hanson breaks down during emotional interview over party divisions