Pauline Hanson has taken aim at the leader of the opposition over his past performance as workplace minister, claiming Aussie jobs won’t be safe if Labor gets into government at the next election.
The Senator for Queensland branded Bill Shorten “terrible” and said it was time his “lies were exposed” in a scathing tweet on Wednesday, as she urged people not to vote for the rival party.
One Nation leader Hanson posted the dig online alongside a new campaign video that claims Shorten gave away more than 68,000 jobs between 2012 and 2013, during his stint in Julia Gillard’s Cabinet. It comes ahead of the Super Saturday by-elections, which are due to take place on July 28.
The 53-second clip lists a series of alleged statistics from Shorten’s time as minister for employment and workplace relations. It claims: “In just one year while Bill Shorten was workplace minister, he gave away 7870 construction jobs to foreigners. Over a 12 month period Bill Shorten gave away 4,630 mining jobs to overseas workers. And in that same year, Bill Shorten gave away another 6,790 accommodation and food service jobs to foreigners.
“The fact is it only took one year for Bill Shorten to give away over 68,480 Australian jobs to foreigners. That’s so unfair Bill. Bill Shorten and Labor says one thing to working Australians and another thing to his corporate mates. Stop Bill Shorten’s lies. Don’t vote Labor.”
A Labor spokeswoman told The Australian that Hanson was “desperate to distract from her unity ticket with Turnbull on cuts to penalty rates, schools and hospitals”, claiming a vote for the One Nation leader’s party was a vote for Malcolm Turnbull.
“Pauline pretends to stand up for workers – but she sells them out every time. She voted against protecting penalty rates and she backs Turnbull’s handout to the top end of town,” the spokeswoman said. “Bill’s spent his whole life fighting for workers to get better pay and conditions.”
This isn’t the first time that Hanson, 64, has targeted Shorten though, as last month she publicly confessed that she doesn’t like or trust the Labor party leader and called out the 51-year-old over his alleged lack of experience outside of politics, saying Shorten “has no idea”.
Writing on her Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain Facebook page, she said: “I don’t know about you but Bill Shorten leaves me cold. Bill Shorten has no connection with grassroots Australians. He’s come straight out of university, into the unions, into politics, he’s never employed one person, he’s never had a business. He has no idea. When it comes to Bill Shorten I just say keep away.”
She also told the Courier Mail that she doesn’t like Shorten personally, adding:“I don’t trust him. It’s women’s intuition. I don’t feel warm to him. I don’t feel like I connect with him.”