Ley canvasses Liberal MPs for support as 'diabolical' poll sparks fresh One Nation anguish
An exclusive Capital Brief/DemosAU poll highlighting One Nation's ongoing surge in popularity has sparked a bitter clash over whether the minor party can translate those numbers into seats in Parliament
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has begun canvassing Liberal MPs to shore up support ahead of an expected leadership challenge following a "more than diabolical" poll that showed One Nation's Pauline Hanson eclipsing her as voters' preferred prime minister.
The Capital Brief/DemosAU poll, showing Hanson leading Ley 26% to 16% as preferred prime minister has added to tensions inside the Liberal Party following last week's damaging Coalition breakup and public argument with the Nationals.
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who defected to One Nation last year told Capital Brief the latest survey reflected his “ground polling’’ in his own community. He said One Nation's growing support in polls was a reflection of broad voter dissatisfaction with major parties “on a whole range of issues’’ but that December’s horrific terror attack on Jewish Australians on Bondi Beach had accelerated the trend.
“Voters want clarity, unity and strength from the Coalition and are getting none,’’ he said, likening the on-again, off-again Coalition to Hollywood legends Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who “loved each other so much they had to get married three times’’.
