One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has thrown her support behind Tony Abbott becoming Australia’s next prime minister.
Speaking with Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio on Tuesday morning, the One Nation leader said she thought Abbott had a lot to offer the country. Hanson famously once said that she detested Abbott, blaming him for sending her to jail in 2003, but appears to have had a change of heart.
“We amended our ways and I decided that in 2013. I wished him all the best going into that election to be prime minister,” she told Mitchell. “After I got elected in 2016, Tony rang me up and congratulated me on my win.”
She said the pair made up after a meeting in which Abbott admitted he felt bad for contributing to her conviction, which was later overturned.
“We’re all members of parliament, we’ve all got to work together,” she added. He’s even set to launch her new book, Pauline: In Her Words, today.
Mitchell raised the topic of Abbott potentially returning as leader for the Liberal Party, particularly if they lose the next election. He then asked Hanson if she’d like to see Abbott back in the top job.
“I think that Tony Abbott has a lot to offer,” she said. “We don’t agree on all policies, but when I see that he sees the need to address immigration and other issues that he’s looking at, I think that Tony Abbott may have possibly learnt a lot from his first time around and I think he will come back as a stronger, better prime minister.”
She said that it was up to the Liberal Party to decide, but that she thought Abbott had something to offer. She also said that she didn’t trust Bill Shorten at all.
“I have no hope or trust in Bill Shorten to lead this country, or the Labor Party,” she explained.
And while she admitted that she gets along with current PM Malcolm Turnbull, she said that many people don’t want him in power. Turnbull lost his 29th Newspoll in a row on Monday.
When it came to other potential leaders in the Liberal Party, Hanson named Peter Dutton as her top contender.
“We need good leadership,” she said. “I talk to people all around the country and people just feel that Malcolm Turnbull is not the strong leader that they’re crying out for. To deal with the issues that they want.”
She also said she had high regard for Michaelia Cash and her portfolio, Mattias Cormann for being reliable and trustworthy and Julie Bishop for coming across as very well.