One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has accused mining magnate and second-time political hopeful Clive Palmer of bullying and threatening her into voting for the government’s company tax cuts.
Senator Hanson alleges Mr Palmer warned he would withhold preferences from his rebranded political party, United Australia Party, to One Nation if she didn’t back the tax cuts.
“He rang up my staffer yesterday and said, ‘Listen I’ve got $450 million in the bank - if I move my money overseas I’ll get an extra million dollars in it,” she told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“I don’t agree with that – no-one should be bullied or threatened and the whole fact is no, I’m not backing away.”
Clive Palmer with former One Nation senator Brian Burston, who's joined his United Australia Party. Source: AAP
Senator Hanson is withholding her support for the tax cuts for larger companies saying more needs to be done about cracking down on multinational tax avoidance.
The government is hoping to bring the tax cuts to a Senate vote this week but has yet to find the numbers to secure its passage through the upper house.
Mr Palmer recently heralded his hopes for a political comeback in the House of Representatives after announcing the poaching of One Nation defector Brian Burston.
Senator Hanson is not the only one to make the claim against Mr Palmer.
Independent Derryn Hinch also claims to have been personally lobbied to support the company tax cuts in a phone call by the mining magnate. Senator Hinch said he found the conversation "insulting".
“This man who’s robbed money from Queensland thinks he can convince me when Finance Minister (Mathias) Cormann can’t,” he told the Seven Network.
