Fairly serious allegations, I would've thought.

Yeah, look, they are.

And I, I guess we should start by saying, Mark, like Jordon Steele-John denies the allegations.

David Shoebridge, the party's new leader, says he didn't know anything about them.

But you're right.

Like, it's, it's an open secret in Canberra, and it has been for a long time, that that is, uh, his nickname.

Um, I asked David Shoebridge about that, uh, at, at the press conference yesterday, and he said, "Oh, look, uh..." He, he didn't answer the question at all.

Where, where are we up to with this, James?

Fairly serious allegations, I would've thought.

Yeah, look, they are.

And I, I guess we should start by saying, Mark, like Jordon Steele-John denies the allegations.

David Shoebridge, the party's new leader, says he didn't know anything about them.

But you're right, like it's, it's an open secret in Canberra, it has been for a long time, that that is, uh, his nickname.

Um, I asked David Shoebridge about that, uh, at, at the press conference yesterday, and he said, "Oh, look, uh..." He, he didn't answer the question at all.

He just said, "Look, we've got to...

Where, where are we up to with this, James?

... was that not an extraordinary misstep on her part if she's trying to get Labor voters over to One Nation?

Look, I don't know that she would see it like that, but I mean, I, I think on the face of it at least, yes, it seems to be.

And this is the thing, this is the kind of tension, uh, you know, I've been thinking about this just this morning, writing, uh, writing a piece about Ms. Hanson.

Like, there's this fundamental tension between what she says about being on the side of ordinary Aussies and how she actually conducts her business, right? So no ordinary Australian has a friend, for example, who just gives them an airplane so they can travel around the country and campaign politically.

Uh, you know, Pauline Hanson does.

Gina Rinehart, the mining billionaire, gave her a plane.

I don't understand.

I mean, this is a real vote turner for some people, isn't it?

I mean, was that not an extraordinary misstep on her part if she's trying to get Labor voters over to One Nation?

Look, I don't know that she would say it like that, but I mean, I think on the face of it at least, yes, it seems to be.

And this is the thing, this is the kind of tension, you know, I've been thinking about this just this morning, writing a piece about Miss Hanson.

Like there's this fundamental tension between...

What she says about being on the side of ordinary Aussies and how she actually conducts her business, right? So no ordinary Australian has a friend, for example, who just gives them an aeroplane so they can travel around the country and campaign politically.

You know, Pauline Hanson does.

Gina Reinhart, the mining billionaire, gave her a plane.

James, how surprising are these backdowns? Are they going to help how the budget goes down? Are they going to placate some of the biggest critics of the budget?

What did you mean by that?

Most Australians, whether they love him or hate him, have a pretty strong opinion on Tony Abbott and his period as opposition leader, then his shorter period as PM.

He was far from universally popular, I think it's safe to say.

You know, the, the sort of left of politics, Sam, plenty of people on the left hated him, but for the coalition, for conservative types, he was kind of a standard-bearer and, and still is to this day.

What happened last Friday in terms of the election of Tony Abbott to the presidency of the Liberal Party is quite a big deal.

Now, it's not a, it's not a role that necessarily, you know, kind of signs off on detailed policy and what have you, but it is a role that sets the tone, helps set the agenda, helps set the focus for the coalition, for the Liberal Party, you know, in the next couple of years ahead.

And, you know, what did I mean by it being a Rorschach test? Well, uh, I mean, this is what we're about to find out.

So what are you hearing in Parliament House? Like, are people whispering in the corridors that, "Oh my God, Abbott's just here to take over from Angus Taylor"? Like, what are you hearing? Tell us, tell us the inside scoop, James.

So what has he proposed there?

So I think what Angus Taylor's doing here, um, Sam, is tapping on the same, uh, I guess kind of populist impulse that he's tapping on or pressing on, uh, with the housing promise.

So what Angus Taylor has said is that if you're a permanent resident, and we've got, I think from memory it's around four and a half, five million permanent residents in Australia.

If you're a permanent resident in this country, not a citizen, you no longer would have access, you would no longer have access to I think it's 17 different social welfare and benefits programs.

So think of things like the NDIS.

Think of, um, I guess, um, you know, unemployment benefits, things like that.

Medicare would not be included in this.

So are they at sustainable levels or is there really an argument here that, yes, the numbers of immigrants do need to drop?

Yeah, yeah

...

if you like, behind the party now.

Um, the other thing I think that's, we've seen, and I, again, I wouldn't necessarily attribute this to the, let's say the pause in their polling rise, is how the One Nation has handled this issue about Sean Black, who, um, is a former staffer who was brought back to work for Malcolm Roberts, then worked in party headquarters.

He is a convicted, um, I believe it's rapist, um, from four or five years ago.

He's done his time in jail.

He's out.

[laughs]