Albanese pledges to keep reducing migration as third poll puts One Nation in lead

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued a grim warning to the media about personal attacks on politicians following the outcry over the Jacinta Allan “witch” billboards, saying he “didn’t want to have a press conference after tragedy” as threat levels escalate and Pauline Hanson scoffed at the Victorian premier, telling her to “suck it up, sweetheart”.

Acknowledging that economic strain was fostering both anger and populism across the nation, Albanese also made a pitch for a “patriotic” Australia as he pledged to keep lowering migration in a clear response to Hanson’s party locking in its position as the most popular in Australia.

“What I don’t want to do is to have a press conference in this courtyard after a tragedy,” Albanese told reporters on Monday.

“There are multiple people, including some still on remand for threats at our level, at my level, at the moment. There was one in court again on Friday, one in court the Friday beforehand.”

“Some of the personal ways in which mainstream media, as well, has characterised people in public life has just got to stop… Turn the temperature down, either that or accept responsibility for the consequences.”

Albanese did not specify which media outlets or particular examples of coverage he was referring to. The prime minister, whose personal ratings have tumbled since last month’s budget, was speaking in general terms and not purely about the Allan billboards.

A Newspoll published on Monday was the third major poll in a row, after surveys from YouGov and Redbridge last week, showing One Nation just above Labor on first-preference votes. Hanson’s party’s support has continued to swell in the polls after Labor’s budget in which it broke election pledges to keep negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts untouched.

Hanson responded to the Allan billboards on Monday, telling Sky News that the Victorian premier should “suck it up, sweetheart” and pointed to expectations that Allan’s own colleagues may topple her over her deep unpopularity.

“If you’ve seen what’s happened to me over the years, I remember years ago [former Nationals leader] Tim Fischer called me a witch and [said] I should be burned at the stake.”

“So I’ve been tagged that long before you … Besides, Jacinta, I’ll tell you something, I’ve heard on the grapevine, you won’t be there in a couple of weeks.”

Victorian opposition leader Jess Wilson said the mobile billboard was sexist and inappropriate.

“That sort of discourse should never be used in politics and we shouldn’t see this happening on our streets,” she said.

Albanese used a King’s Birthday press conference in Canberra, marking the death of former Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer, to repeatedly talk up Australia and speak at length about the nation’s populist moment.

Directly addressing conservatives’ concerns about Australia’s migration rate, Albanese said his government was acting to bring the numbers down from those seen when borders reopened after the pandemic.

“I want an Australia that is united, one that has social cohesion at our core, one that respects people for who they are, but is patriotic about all of us being Australians,” he said. “We will reduce that overseas migration over next couple of years down to 225,000 and we think that’s the right number.”

Economic dislocation was driving voters’ anger, he said, citing the Bill Clinton-era line that economic conditions were the underpinning factor behind political developments.

“It’s the economy, stupid,” Albanese said, claiming that the broken housing market justified his U-turn on negative gearing and capital gains taxes.

“It’s always the economy that sets the parameters for debate … The argument that says that having delivered our commitments in our first year of our second term, we should sit back and coast for the next two. There’s one that I wasn’t prepared to support.”

“The hard decisions that we made on the budget that we want to make sure that we put in place mechanisms that do make a difference, not politically easy decisions, but the right decisions, and that if governments don’t respond to that, there’ll be a continued rise in populism, be it of the right or the left.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said on Sunrise: “We see those polls and we get the message, which is we need big changes in this country, and that’s exactly what Labor is delivering.”

One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce said the government’s response to recent polling was “scratchy”.

“One Nation is a reflection of the sentiment of the people … [They] are over Labor and they’re over the Coalition,” he said, appearing on the same program with Plibersek.

Former Nationals leader David Littleproud, who fuelled two Coalition splits since last year’s election at a time when support started bleeding to One Nation, said the polls showed Australians were doing it tough and felt desperate.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s MPs are under instruction to avoid comments that may offend Hanson’s voters, but Liberal MP Andrew Hastie labelled Hanson “MAGA first” on Monday, in one of the most direct critiques of the One Nation leader from an opposition MP as the Coalition scrambles to fend off the populist party.

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