One Nation dominates Labor conference as prime minister rallies party faithful

In a pre-election rallying call to party faithful, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spent much of it speaking about his opposition – and it was not the Coalition.

He talked about and around One Nation throughout his opening address at the Labor Party’s triennial conference in Adelaide on Thursday.

“All those attention-seeking culture wars imported from overseas, all those trips around the world to talk Australia down, cannot disguise the fact that none of them have anything new or anything positive to offer our country,” he said, referring to Pauline Hanson’s highly scrutinised trip to Europe.

“People’s genuine frustrations deserve a practical response, not just an emotional one because a list of problems only counts for something if it comes with solutions.

“And while you can go a long way in politics for a long time by raging against a system that you’re a part of without a plan to fix it.”

In the 315-word speech, Albanese only directly mentioned the Coalition once – and even then, only to link it to One Nation.

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“Beyond One Nation’s personality clashes, policy confusion, conspiracy theories, and candidate chaos, and regardless of who leads the Liberals to the next election, in every way that matters, the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are already a coalition,” he said.

“It’s not just that they need each other to form government; they agree with each other about what they want to do in government.

“They all want to cut wages. They all want to scrap paid parental leave. They all want to make it easier to sack workers. They all want to make it harder for young Australians to buy a home.”

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has been trying to differentiate himself from One Nation, ramping up his language against the party and officially ruling out a deal between the pair.

But Labor has argued they are the same.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said the Coalition would not be able to govern without One Nation, which would only embolden part of the “radicalised, radioactive Coalition”.

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“That is a risk that our country cannot afford,” she said.

One Nation also made its way into remarks from Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and delegates.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas used his welcoming address to mock One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce for yelling at his dog during a live television interview this week, saying, “If you can’t govern your dog, you can’t govern the nation”.

This week’s conference is the last before the next federal election in 2028 and it appears that, from the comments made at the conference so far, the real contest for the public vote will be Labor against One Nation over the Coalition.

Albanese appeared to showcase his campaign mode on Thursday, shaking the hands of delegates and waving to the crowd as he walked into the conference hall to the Australian classic song Sounds of Then.

He invoked 135 years of the Labor Party and 50 years of an annual conference as he made a pitch to supporters as to how his government was different from his opponents.

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“Our movement has had the kindness and courage to drive that change and shape that change in the interests of all, to make progress real for people, to make reform work for people,” he said.

“That is the mission that every Labor generation has made our own.”

If Albanese can secure a third term, he would be the first prime minister to do so since John Howard.