Pauline Hanson has confirmed her fellow One Nation senator Brian Burston is still a member of the party, despite his decision to break ranks and vote with the Coalition in favour of company tax cuts.
Senator Hanson claims her colleague agreed to vote against the cuts in a phone conversation on Monday, but revealed she had not spoken with him since.
“He is a member of the party and he is still a representative of One Nation,” Senator Hanson told a press conference on Thursday, flanked by her remaining deputy Peter Georgiou.
Brian Burston’s decision puts the Turnbull government one vote closer to passing its tax cuts through the Senate.
The Coalition’s bid to gradually lower Australia’s company tax rate from 30 percent to 25 percent was dealt a seemingly fatal blow last week, when One Nation leader Pauline Hanson backflipped on a previous deal and indicated her three senators would vote ‘no’.
Senator Hanson said the policy had not been “well-received” by voters and claimed the government had failed to meet its end of the deal that secured her support.
But One Nation senator Brian Burston has revealed he will still vote for the corporate tax reform, which the Coalition has been pursuing since it won the 2016 federal election.
"I don't want to cause any angst or division in One Nation, but once I make a handshake with somebody, that's it. I stick to my word," Senator Burston told The Australian on Thursday.
The One Nation leader said she would speak with her colleague in the coming days but said she had been unable to reach him this week “because of our schedules”.
Senator Hanson said she expected her members to vote in unison.
“One Nation is a bloc,” she said. “We are not a loose party.”
Finance minister Mathias Cormann praised Senator Burston’s decision and confirmed the government would still deliver on its promises to One Nation – which included extra funding for apprenticeships – if the party reinstated its support.
“The government welcomes the confirmation by Senator Brian Burston that he will continue to support our business tax cuts in full,” Senator Cormann told reporters at Parliament House on Thursday.
“The government remains committed 100 percent to what was agreed with One Nation earlier in the year.”
Liberal MP Luke Howarth said the senator was a “man of his word”.
Labor’s Brendan O’Connor said the development was evidence of a “civil war” in One Nation.
With Labor and the Greens firmly opposed, the government needs to secure eight votes on the Senate crossbench.
Assuming the other two One Nation senators remain opposed, the government will need to convince Centre Alliance, formerly known as the Xenophon group, and a handful of independent senators including Derryn Hinch, Tim Storer and Fraser Anning.
