The National party stalwart Ron Boswell has said the industry minister, Arthur Sinodinos, would rue the day that he legitimised Pauline Hanson and warned the Coalition that voters will desert them if they did deals with One Nation.

His comments come as the acting prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said a country run by One Nation would go down the toilet and criticised Donald Trump’s anti-trade agenda.



Boswell is a former senator who led the National party fight against One Nation during its first incarnation. He retired from the parliament in 2014 with a warning to his party room and the Liberal party that its founder Robert Menzies understood that the Coalition had to govern for the centre.

“I said to my colleagues last week, you stupid bastards, you are governing for two weeks out,” Boswell told Guardian Australia on Tuesday.



“All you are worried about is getting your next piece of legislation through. You’ve got to do that but when Sinodinos said she is nice and she is better than she was, I thought you’ll rue that day.

“Because all you are doing is legitimising people voting for her. Making it safe for people to vote for her.”

Thus far, he has not spoken out about the resurgence of One Nation but he told Guardian Australia he was “really worried” that the conservative side of politics generally were not taking Hanson on.



“I don’t want to be in the same position as the Labor party where they get dragged to the left all the time,” Boswell said. “If we don’t fight her back that’s where we’ll end up. We will be dragged to the right.”

On the same day, Joyce told the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares) that if One Nation was running the country, Australia would go “down the toilet”.

“This is not My Kitchen Rules, this is not Dancing With the Stars, this is running the country,” Joyce said.

“And fundamentally I believe in the common sense of the Australian people ... do you want them to be going out of Indonesia and discussing how to move more product?

“If you come to the conclusion although it might be entertaining...then you have to ask where do you think the nation will go if those individuals are running the country. I can tell you where it will go as an accountant. I will tell you exactly where it is going to go. It is going to go down the toilet.”

Joyce also said the protectionist agenda promoted by Trump was absurd.

“Where does this end? Obviously you become wealthy because nations have traded,” Joyce said.

“Think about what has happened around the globe. Think about where we were in the 1800s and where we are now? Look at you, look at humanity, look where we have got to, the standard of health, the standard of education, the life expectancy. Terrible things that have happened since we started trading with each other in a more open way.”

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson holds a press conference in Western Australia on Monday while campaigning in the lead-up to the state election. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

Boswell welcomed Joyce’s comments on One Nation, saying “I think Barnaby is doing all he can” but he had an agriculture portfolio to manage and the leader’s job.

“When I pushed back [against One Nation] I had a brilliant team, speech writers and writers and that’s all I did but he hasn’t got that time,” Boswell said.

Boswell said Hanson’s agenda was bad for the bush. He said her criticism of immunisation was “straight out of the book on the League of Rights” and if One Nation was governing, Australia would have no fluoride in the water.

He said there could not be anything worse for the bush than One Nation-supported Citizens Initiated Referendum “on the numbers” where citizens can push issues with a general vote.

“What about if you lost live cattle? Shit no. What about if you lost kangaroo culling? What about abortion? All those things will go but no one ever challenges her,” said Boswell.

He underlined he did not challenge Hanson’s right to be in parliament but he warned against glorifying her and her party.

“She legitimately got into parliament and the bastard that ever put her in jail should be horsewhipped but Barnaby’s saying if these people get in you would be dragged everywhere.

“But I was told and I am hearing it again, she’ll run out of oxygen. Bullshit, she is getting stronger and stronger.”

Boswell acknowledged Coalition members had suggested the government needed her three votes on the Senate crossbenchs for some legislation but he warned former colleagues not to build up the minor party.

“Don’t build something up there, explain it to the people,” he said.

“[Otherwise] you’ll get another backlash this way. People will say hell if I have to deal with a government that is supported by One Nation, I’d rather stay Labor. There will be that backlash against you too and I have seen that happen.

“I saw it in Queensland. When we gave preferences to One Nation the people walked away and said no, we’ll back Labor.”