Markets 
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has ruled out forming a coalition with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, after he was repeatedly asked if he would go further than saying there was no plan for a deal.
Appearing on ABC’s 730 Report on Tuesday for the first time since he said the rival party’s policies would lead to “an eternity of pain”, Taylor was asked four times by host Sarah Ferguson if he would categorically reject the possibility of forming government with One Nation.
Initially insisting that the Coalition had “absolutely no plan for a deal with One Nation to form government”, Taylor was asked again: “Doesn’t leaving it unruled-out, leave it on the table?”
“I’m ruling it out,” Taylor replied. “There’s no plan,” adding that “The reason is simple: that they would, One Nation would, as a government, leave us with an eternity of pain, and they have a grab bag of policies where even a small subset of them would take this country into a fiscal crisis.”
Last month, Taylor was obliged to step in and shut down a proposal from South Australian Liberal frontbencher Tony Pasin, who suggested the party should work “hand in glove” with One Nation to defeat Labor, even going as far as agreeing not to compete in the same electorates in a form of “seat swap”.
While Taylor and many senior Opposition MPs have, until recently, been careful not to alienate voters drifting to One Nation by being too harsh, many in the party have sharpened their attacks, including West Australian MP Andrew Hastie, whose own seat is under direct threat.
Read the full article here
