One Nation MP Brian Burston deserts Hanson to back company tax cut

One Nation senator Brian Burston says he will support the government’s $35.6bn company tax cuts in a direct challenge to Pauline Hanson’s authority.

One Nation senator Brian Burston. Picture: Kym Smith

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has been plunged into a damaging political crisis, with senator Brian Burston declaring he would support the government’s $35.6 billion company tax cuts in a direct challenge to his leader’s authority.

Senator Burston told The Australian he was blindsided by Senator Hanson’s decision to with­draw support for the package, saying 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.”

The policy split between Senator Burston and One Nation will attract the interest of the Nationals, who, The Australian can reveal, have already made approaches to recruit Liberal senator Lucy ­Gichuhi and Queensland independent senator Fraser Anning.

Senator Burston yesterday revealed that he did not learn of One Nation’s decision to withdraw support for the company tax cuts until it emerged in The Australian last week.

“I keep finding out One Nation policies when I read them in The Australian newspaper,” he said.

 

While he was uncertain of the reason for Senator Hanson’s backflip on the tax cuts, he said the Longman by-election in Queensland — one of the five “Super Saturday” by-elections to be held on July 28 — was likely a key 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.”

The One Nation split on economic policy will revive government hopes of salvaging the corporate tax cuts before a vote on the package next month, but the Coalition still needs four more crossbenchers to pass legislation.

The Centre Alliance, which controls two upper-house seats, has left the door open to supporting the corporate tax cuts if the government’s proposed “Google tax” brings in sufficient revenue to guarantee health, education and social services.

Victorian senator Derryn Hinch has also said he could support a package that limited corporate tax relief to companies with a turnover of up to $500 million — a proposition opposed by Senator Hanson but to which she has committed to consultations with her party colleagues.

The government needs eight of 10 crossbench votes to pass its legislation, with Labor and the Greens opposing the company tax cuts.

It already has the support of Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm, Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi and Senator Anning.

Senator Burston, a former small businessman, cited this week’s Newspoll indicating that 60 per cent of One Nation supporters backed the corporate tax cuts — along with 63 per cent of all voters — for his decision to support government legislation.

He said the secret “mega-deal” negotiated by One Nation in March with Senator Cormann, which was contingent on the tax cuts passing the parliament, was an “exciting development” for the country. The secret deal — revealed by The Australian — included a $6bn overhaul of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, the introduction of a “use it or lose it” policy for offshore gas reserves and a pilot apprenticeship scheme for regional Australia.

“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,” Senator Burston told The Australian.

Senator Burston earlier this month removed references to One Nation from his Facebook page.

He said he was yet to be given an indication that he would be endorsed as a NSW Senate candidate for the party.

However, he said his decision to split with Senator Hanson on company tax should not be interpreted as a sign he would abandon the party, given there was no agreement for One Nation senators to vote as a bloc on every piece of legislation. “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.”

The split in One Nation over company tax will propel Senator Burston on to the Nationals’ radar after they increased their ranks to 22 MPs following the defection to them of Tasmanian independent senator Steve Martin from the crossbench.

The Australian has confirmed that approaches from the Nationals have been made to Senator Gichu­hi, who defected to the Liberal Party in February but is in danger of being relegated to the fourth spot on the South Aus­tralian ticket.

Senator Anning has also been approached, although The Aus­tralian understands he has not been swayed into leaving the crossbench.

A Nationals source told The Australian yesterday that the minor Coalition partner would be happy to speak to Senator Burston in the event of any split with One Nation.

“Burston’s a much more moderate One Nationer,” the source said. “I think there would be a prospect it would be contemplated if he reached out.”

Malcolm Turnbull used question time to defend the government’s corporate tax cuts under questioning from Bill Shorten, saying “if Australian business are competitive, then they can create jobs”.

“There were 415,000 jobs created last year and over a million jobs created since the Coalition came into government at the end of 2013,” the Prime Minister said.