This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

One Nation has reversed its position on corporate tax again. The party’s leader, Pauline Hanson has said it will now oppose the big business tax cuts, in what she called its “final decision”.

The withdrawal of support, just weeks before byelections in which Labor was targeting One Nation for supporting the company cuts, was accompanied by an ambitious list of fresh demands, but seems likely to spell the end of the package. .

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, responded by noting One Nation had given the government “very firm private and public commitments of support” but conceded in Senate estimates it “might well be that we may never get there” on company tax cuts because of the new position.

Hanson withdrew her support for the company tax cuts on Tuesday in an interview with the Australian, before calling a press conference to explain that she was concerned the government was not paying down debt fast enough.



Hanson said she had not spoken to Cormann but knew he “is devastated over this”, then blamed his colleagues for failing to cut immigration levels and support coal-fired power.

The minor party’s three Senate votes are crucial to the Coalition’s chances of reducing the tax rate to 25% for companies earning more than $50m a year.

After opposing the big business component of company tax cuts in 2017, One Nation reversed its position in March in return for a $60m package to fund 1,000 apprentices. The Australian also reported fresh details of the deal, including a tightening of tax deductions for exploration costs under the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT).

Hanson said changes to the PRRT could be worth $6bn over 10 years. She denied that she had broken her word, citing the absence of the PRRT changes and funding for apprenticeships in the budget, which Cormann explained was because the agreement was contingent on the tax cuts passing the Senate.

In Senate estimates Labor’s Penny Wong pressed for details of the deal. Cormann said the Coalition had agreed on “a whole series of things” but did not confirm individual measures.

In a heated exchange, Cormann said it was a “ridiculous proposition” and “hysterical” for Wong to suggest the Coalition had handed its tax policy to One Nation.

Cormann vowed to continue negotiations with the crossbench and to take the company tax cuts to the next election if they were blocked.

Hanson also attacked one of the central justifications for the package, saying she was unconvinced that the slow phase-in of the corporate tax cuts to 2026-27 would stimulate job creation.

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“The whole fact is, if they’re ­serious about this, then start doing something about it now … This government is talking about it six or eight years down the track. Well, that’s not good enough,” Hanson reportedly said.

“The people in general don’t want it. It has not been well ­received. The government has not been able to sell the package to the people and they haven’t cut through.”

Hanson reportedly issued a new set of demands, including a reduction in the migration rate, making the banks pay for the royal commission, the provision of greater assistance for pensioners and lower power prices for consumers.

At the press conference Hanson focused on gas, calling for a quota to reserve 15% of domestic supply and the reintroduction of royalties on the wellhead value of gas.

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Last week a report in the Australian Financial Review suggested the Coalition had held off announcing a plan to toughen allowable deductions for the PRRT for fear that One Nation would use its votes in support of company tax cuts to leverage bigger changes to raise more revenue from oil and gas companies.

In March the government fell two votes short on its company tax cut due to opposition from senators Tim Storer and Derryn Hinch, but its hopes had been revived by Centre Alliance’s Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick signalling that increasing revenues elsewhere could help win their support.

The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, called on the government to release details of the “secret deal” with One Nation. “We shouldn’t be relying on Pauline Hanson to learn what government policy is, what deal they have done,” he said.