Hateful Labor inflates Hanson

Labor likes to paint Pauline Hanson as a polarising figure who poses a threat to the social fabric of the Australian nation.

Senator Pauline Hanson outside Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor likes to paint Pauline Hanson as a polarising figure who poses a threat to the social fabric of the Australian nation.

Through a blind hatred of the woman, the opposition has now ensured the One Nation leader has become a threat to the economy. This is not an indictment of Hanson. It is the consequence of Labor’s political decision to abandon common sense when it comes to business tax cuts — cuts it once supported.

The refusal to negotiate an outcome on an issue that once had bipartisan support has forced the government to deal with crossbenchers who never had a commonsense view of the economy to begin with.

With One Nation’s two votes in the Senate being critical for passage of legislation, Bill Shorten has effectively put Hanson in charge of economic policy. Labor’s Senate negotiator Penny Wong was apoplectic at the deal done last week between Hanson and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to get personal income tax cuts done.

Wong was blindsided and the opposition was caught out. Its only option was to double down and launch an unhinged attack on Hanson — a tactic that some in shadow cabinet believe is a dangerous folly.

This week it is all about company tax and the opposition’s pressure campaign has succeed in spooking Hanson. She has folded on the flimsy argument that the government isn’t doing enough to crack down on multinational tax avoidance. This, of course, is nonsense. The government has passed the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law and a Diverted Profits Tax to stamp out profit shifting overseas.

This is Hanson looking for a short-term rescue plan before the Longman by-election.

The problem for Labor and Hanson is that they have approached the issue as if it’s all about them. Corporate tax cuts are hardly populist policy. The government isn’t doing it because it makes people love them.