One Nation strip club antics reignite federal election preference differences between Coalition parties

Updated

A drunken bender in a US strip club has proved politically painful for more than just the man at the centre of the scandal.

The handsy saga brought One Nation back to the forefront of the federal election campaign.

In doing so it meant the Coalition's leaders had to again defend their preference dealings with Pauline Hanson's party.

That was music to the ears of an Opposition leader eager to accuse the Prime Minister of becoming hostage to Senator Hanson and to Clive Palmer, who is seeking re-election.

A night at the strippers

The shots were fired early but it was a drunken trip to a strip club that ultimately ended Steve Dickson's federal political ambitions.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson had stuck with him as he and staffer James Ashby were engulfed in scandal amid revelations the pair wanted millions of dollars in political donations from an American lobby group and discussed softening gun ownership policies.

But vision of him touching a dancer and making derogatory comments in a US strip club proved a bridge too far.

"I wouldn't tolerate my own children behaving this way towards women and I cannot and will not condone my own candidates dealing with women in this fashion either," Senator Hanson said in announcing she'd accepted his resignation.

Mr Dickson was unlikely to win a seat in the Senate because he's second on One Nation's Queensland ticket.

But he'll remain on the ballot because his resignation came after voting began.

The now-former One Nation staffer insists he's stepping away from public life, or at least that's what his statement meant to say.

Awkwardly, it stated he was no longer in the "pubic interest" when it probably intended to say "public interest".

"As I will no longer be of pubic interest, I ask that you please respect my family's privacy at this time."

Coalition leaders at odds over One Nation

The scandal engulfing One Nation bumped businessman Clive Palmer from the minds of the major party leaders for at least a few hours.

One Nation's woes brought back to attention the differing approaches the Coalition parties were bringing to preferencing Pauline Hanson's party.

"I appreciate that some members of One Nation have done some rather interesting things lately, and said some things that are quite unpalatable," Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said.

"I understand that. But we're not One Nation. We are the Nationals."

But the unpleasantness wasn't enough to convince Mr McCormack to change his approach to dealing with One Nation.

"You have to do what it takes to get votes and to win at an election," he said at the National Press Club.

"And the fact is that the National Party policies, probably, closer align with One Nation, than they ever were with the Greens or Labor."

It was a debate Prime Minister Scott Morrison was refusing to be drawn into, and didn't want his Liberals associated with the Nationals' approach to dealing with One Nation.

"We're two separate parties and there is no deal between the National Party and One Nation," he said.

"The One Nation Party have made their decision, the Nationals have made their decision. So that's a matter for the National Party."

One Nation's gun revelations from earlier this year prompted Mr Morrison to vow that his party would preference Pauline Hanson's after Labor.

The seats shaping the election

Labor defends climate change costs

Mr Morrison started the day ramping up the pressure on Opposition leader Bill Shorten over the cost of his policies.

The impact of Labor's climate change plans has continued to haunt the Opposition throughout the campaign, with the Coalition claiming they will come with a billion-dollar bill for businesses.

"He doesn't know the cost because he's not going to pay for it," Mr Morrison said.

But Labor's Mark Butler, who joined the Labor leader to campaign in WA, insisted his party had been transparent about the cost of his party's policies.

"It is impossible to cost this because a Labor government led by Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek would not be imposing a direct carbon price on businesses," Mr Butler said.

Labor wants to almost halve carbon emissions by 2030 and part of the plan involves caps on 250 major emitters.

To meet those caps, businesses would have to reduce their environmental impact or buy offset credits.

"Then they may have to either put in more renewable technology, or find a better way to measure their carbon pollution, or change production process — there is a cost to that," Mr Shorten said during a commercial radio interview.

"Now, I can't tell you what that cost will be because the company's going to try to do it in the least-cost way."

There was, however, a billion-dollar price tag the Opposition leader was willing to talk about.

He used a trip to a school in the marginal Perth electorate of Swan to announce Labor would help schools to install solar panels.

Mr Shorten was making his second trip to WA for the election campaign.

He used his return to the state to announce taxpayer-funded wage rises for early childhood educators and initially appeared to keep the option open to other industries.

But that's no longer the case.

"We have other mechanisms to help other industries," Mr Shorten said.

Voters go to the polls in 18 days.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-elections, one-nation, pauline-hanson, alp, liberals, liberal-national-party, nationals, bill-shorten, scott-morrison, australia

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