OLD ENEMIES UNITE ON SIDE OF RIGHT
ACCORDING to the man who once helped land her in jail, Pauline Hanson is a testament to the adage “you are always better the second time around”.
The apparently pointed remark came from Tony Abbott as he stood shoulder-toshoulder with the woman who once detested him.
The book launch love-in at Parliament House to mark a new compilation of the One Nation leader’s speeches was a far cry from the “political witch-hunt” Senator Hanson accused Mr Abbott and John Howard of in the early 2000s.
“Between Pauline and myself there has been a lot of dirty water under the bridge, but her willingness to let the past be the past is a sign of decency which is all too rare these days in our public life,” Mr Abbott said.
In 1996, when Senator Hanson was a “lone voice crying in the wilderness”, Mr Abbott thought she was damaging what he thought was the best conservative government in history.
Now she has worked with her colleagues constructively in the Senate to help the Coalition Government implement its agenda, he said.
He is even making it his mission for the Government to preference One Nation below themselves and above Labor and the Greens.
Senator Hanson welcomed the overture, saying there was “no way in the world” she wanted a Labor/Greens government. “I think it’s very important as conservatives that we do work together,” she said.