Pauline Hanson backflips in parliament, dumping ‘dud’ bill and shocking the Senate

Pauline Hanson has performed a shock backflip in the Senate, launching a massive spray at her political rivals.

Pauline Hanson has performed a shock backflip and blocked a push to reveal the profits of the biggest JobKeeper winners.

Senator Hanson and her One Nation offsider Malcolm Roberts pulled off the last-minute move on Thursday.

The pair originally backed a plan to name and shame businesses who enriched themselves off JobKeeper payments.

But they switched position at the 11th hour, triggering chaotic scenes in the Senate.

Senator Hanson tried to turn the torch back onto her opponents to justify the surprise flip-flop.

“If the Labor Party go along with this, then you're bloody gutless, because you should have actually put up an amendment for how you’re going to get the money back,” she yelled into the chamber.

“This shaming businesses, you’re going to tie up everyone into this, including people who have done the right thing.”

The bill – proposed by independent Senator Rex Patrick and backed by Labor – would force the tax commissioner to publish JobKeeper payment information for any Australian company with a turnover greater than $10 million.

Labor and Senator Patrick lamented the $13 billion of taxpayer dollars wasted on big businesses who actually turned a tidy profit during the pandemic.

‘If the Labor Party go along with this, then you‘re bloody gutless because you should have actually put up an amendment for how you’re going to get the money back,’ One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson yelled into the chamber. Picture: Sam Mooy / Getty Images

Last Thursday, One Nation confirmed to NCA NewsWire that Senators Hanson and Roberts both intended to vote in favour of the bill.

But only a week later, they publicly trashed the proposal, telling the chamber Senator Patrick’s idea was a “dud” and a “lemon”.

“How many times have I heard that with my amendments: we‘re not supporting it because it’s rushed,” Senator Hanson said.

“Labor is so bloody minded, that they don‘t want to support anything that may be good for the people of Australia.”

Labor quickly hit back, accusing One Nation of being driven by immature grudges.

“(This is) a novel confession that One Nation are approaching these chambers driven by childish emotions,” Labor Senator Jenny McAllister said.

Senator Roberts claimed One Nation’s decision had nothing to do with partisan politics, but shortcomings in the bill.

“A staffer raised an issue with Senator Patrick‘s amendment and it led to a lot of debate within our party room,” he said.

“What we realised is that Senator Patrick’s amendment is not a transparency measure at all. It is a dud, and it will do damage, potentially.”

Senator Hanson scolded Labor and the crossbench for voting against One Nation’s amendments in the past. Picture: by Sam Mooy / Getty Images

One Nation claimed Senator Patrick’s idea was a ‘dud’ and a ‘lemon’. Picture: Mick Tsikas / AAP

The One Nation leaders asserted that Senator Patrick’s bill was too vague and could potentially lead to family owned and smaller businesses being shamed and targeted unfairly.

“You might have those rat bags out there that are going to attack these more small mums-and-dads businesses that have done the right thing – that could have unintended consequences on them,” Senator Hanson said.

Before the dust had settled on the party’s shock turnaround, One Nation pulled out another surprise move.

Senator Hanson proposed of her own version of the amendment to the Senate, one which she said would be more effective at gaining proper transparency and would be more likely to become official law.

“Labor, unless you got a real fair dinkum argument on this, you should be supporting my amendment. I‘ll tell you now, Patrick’s amendment hasn’t got a chance to getting up,” she said.

“You damn well know it’ll be thrown out because you haven’t got the numbers in the lower house.”

Last time Senator Patrick’s amendment arrived at the House of Representatives, it was indeed thrown out by the coalition.

One Nation’s own version of the amendment narrowed the focus to target publicly listed businesses only.

The party said this would give a more complete and transparent picture of JobKeeper gains and falls, as public companies must make their entire profits and expenses statements public.

“Without seeing the total picture of profit and loss, no one can form a view about waste and enrichment at the individual business level,” Senator Roberts said.

But Labor and Senator Patrick slammed the proposal, saying it would make no difference to how business transparency operates.

Tech giant Harvey Norman paid back $6m in JobKeeper profits following widespread public backlash. Picture: Dean Martin / NCA NewsWire

“This is a dud amendment,” Senator Patrick snapped back.

“It basically requires disclosure where disclosure is already required.”

Senator Patrick lamented One Nation’s new amendment exempted foreign-owned companies with bases in Australia.

That meant companies such as the Chinese-owned mining giant Consolidated Minerals, who received more than $1.8 million in JobKeeper, would not have to disclose anything.

Labor pointed out publicly listed companies had already paid back JobKeeper money after reporting on their profits.

“The problem with the amendment that’s before us is it only deals with the companies that are already required to disclose the JobKeeper that they have already received,” Senator McAllister said.

Despite their criticisms of One Nation’s conduct, Labor and Senator Patrick decided that any transparency amendment was better than none and ultimately voted in favour of Senator Hanson’s proposal.

The bill will be voted on in the House of Representatives in the coming months before it can become law.