Angus Taylor has ruled out forming a coalition with One Nation, shrugging off Pauline Hanson's calls for conservatives to work together to defeat Labor.
In a major speech on Thursday, the opposition leader warned a One Nation government would result in an "eternity of pain", as the populist party rises in the polls and the Liberal-National coalition sinks to historic lows.
Mr Taylor attacked the One Nation leader's policies in his Sydney Institute speech, warning they would cost $1 trillion over a decade and were a random bag of "poorly defined and constantly changing positions".
Mr Taylor later said he would not team up with One Nation in order to get rid of the Labor government.
"The number one thing we want to see is a change of government. There's no question about that. But we don't believe that One Nation can provide the solution," he told ABC TV on Friday.
"Our focus isn't on some kind of coalition or alliance'' with One Nation, he said, adding ''our focus is on getting rid of a rotten Labor government, and I want us to be in government in our own right''.
Following the speech, Senator Hanson said Mr Taylor's priorities were wrong.
"I'm very disappointed with this. You know, Angus, I'm not your enemy. We both need to get rid of the Labor, the Greens government," she said in a video posted from London to social media.
"You can reflect back on your budget reply speech. You picked up and said a lot of One Nation's policies.
"The people of Australia are crying out for change. Listen to the people, Angus, and work with me. Stop denigrating One Nation and work together."
Angus Taylor has today come out attacking One Nation instead of going after the real enemy, Labor.
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) July 9, 2026
Angus has played right into the hands of Anthony Albanese.
While the Liberal leader is telling voters how bad One Nation is, he's quietly adopting One Nation policies.
Stop… pic.twitter.com/rL4WGbdYWG
While One Nation has been rising in the polls to at one point be the most popular party by primary vote, support has slipped since Senator Hanson's address to the National Press Club in June where she called for Australia to be a monoculture.
Since taking over as opposition leader in February, Mr Taylor has presided over the coalition falling to 17 per cent support in Newspoll, a historic low.
But Mr Taylor said voters would still be receptive to the ideas put forward by the opposition.
"I'm going to keep telling voters and talking to voters and listening to voters, most importantly, about our plan to reduce taxes," he said.
"I'll be out doing that every single day from now until the next election. But I know One Nation is not the solution to this problem."
Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume said there was still uncertainty about One Nation's policies.
"The reason why One Nation don't cost their policies is because they don't want to know what the answer is. The reason why One Nation doesn't have a plan is because they have a slogan written on the back of a napkin," she told Seven's Sunrise.
"These policies that One Nation are proposing are simply slogans. They will drive the economy into the ground."
One Nation Senator Sean Bell said Mr Taylor's attacks against his party were misguided.
"Instead of going harder after the Albanese Labor government, he's decided to turn around and attack One Nation because he's terrified he is going to lose his job, and that's a selfish thing to do," he told Sky News.
"I watched as the opposition leader talk about an eternity of pain. Well, Australians have already been living under eternity of pain."
