A senior minister has described Pauline Hanson's move to abandon her support for the Coalition's company tax cuts as "disappointing", but suggested the government would continue negotiations to win back One Nation's support.
The Turnbull government has been trying to pass its signature company tax cuts – which would lower the tax rate for all companies from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the coming years – since it won the 2016 election.
Senator Pauline Hanson had agreed to support the plan if the government delivered a 1,000-place apprenticeship scheme.
But the One Nation leader was disappointed the places were not funded in the 2018 Budget.
“Upon reflection, in the budget, the government has done absolutely nothing. I couldn’t see anything there about the thousand-place apprenticeship scheme,” she told News Corp.
Senator Hanson’s backflip comes just as the government’s main negotiator in the Senate, finance minister Mathias Cormann, appeared close to securing the remaining numbers.
A proposal for a new tax on digital multinationals like Facebook and Uber was welcomed by Centre Alliance senators Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick, who could have tipped the balance.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed with this latest development," Senator Cormann told reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday.
"But, self-evidently, I hope that this is not the last word."
Senator Cormann said the government “remained committed” to its deal with Senator Hanson's party.
He said One Nation "always understood and accepted" the apprenticeships were "conditional on the successful passage" of the tax bill.
But Senator Hanson said the Coalition had failed to convince the public of the merit of the corporate tax plan, which would phase in gradually through to 2027.
“The people in general don’t want it. It has not been well-received,” she said.
“The government has not been able to sell the package to the people and they haven’t cut through.
“The whole fact is, if they’re serious about this, then start doing something about it now … This government is talking about it six or eight years down the track. Well, that’s not good enough."
One Nation has a new list of demands that could re-secure its support, including changes to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and a new gas pipeline from the east to the west coast, according the Australian.
Senator Cormann said the government still hoped it could "persuade" One Nation but would not comment on whether the petroleum tax was on the table.
Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton said the negotiations were ongoing.
"She is a wiley operator, Pauline. She will put out there she is supporting it, she is not supporting it, she is not supporting it," he told Nine Network.
"She understands the benefit of tax cuts in an economy like ours."
Fellow crossbench senator Derryn Hinch said the backflip was "strange". He said Senator Hanson was recently lobbying him to support the tax cuts in full.
