Opposition Leader Rules Out Coalition-One Nation Seat-Sharing Deal

Liberal MP Tony Pasin suggested the two centre-right and conservative parties sit down and discuss which seats to target.

Leader of the Liberal Party Angus Taylor delivers his speech in Melbourne, Australia on May 30, 2026. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says his party has no plan to carve up seats between the Liberals and One Nation as a potential tactic against Labor.

Taylor’s ruling on the issue comes after Liberal MP Tony Pasin suggested the two centre-right and conservative parties sit down and discuss which seats to target in order not to compete with each other at the 2028 election.

Pasin said the two parties should work “hand-in-glove” to defeat Labor, while also suggesting One Nation work with the Coalition rather than “cannibalise” it, he said in comments obtained by The Australian.

But Taylor told the ABC no such deal would be happening.

“No, there’s no plan to carve up seats,” he said. “We won’t be doing that.”

The comments come as the conservative-leaning One Nation’s support shifts past both major parties in recent polls.

According to the latest June 9 Roy Morgan poll, primary support for One Nation has increased 2.5 points to 29.5 percent, while Labor is down to 26 percent and the Liberal-National Coalition down to just 17.5 percent.

One Nation’s support has received a boost after Labor released its contentious overhaul of wealth generation vehicles like trusts, capital gains tax, and negative gearing,

In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned against assuming polling results would translate to election outcomes.

“Polls, what they do is they state a view at a period of time, not necessarily when people vote, they’re putting numbers on ballot and numbers in little boxes for who they actually want to govern,” he said.

“Quite clearly right around the world ... there is some frustration with the system and whether the system is working for people and that’s something that we’re very conscious of.”

No Preference Discussions Yet

Liberal Senator James Paterson says his party will not be holding preference discussions with One Nation any time soon.

The senator told Sky News on June 11 that any discussions between the parties would be held much closer to the election as he took a swing at One Nation’s credibility.

“Preferences cannot be finalised until we know the candidates a party is running in each seat because, on a seat-by-seat basis, we make a case-by-case judgement about whether or not we want to allocate preferences to a candidate,” he said.

“We know that many parties, One Nation included, in the past have had great difficulty in selecting candidates that are suitable people for public office.

“In the most recent South Australian election, they had a candidate who was wanted for serious crimes in the United Kingdom while being endorsed as a candidate. So no, I think those conversations are premature at this point of the cycle.”

Paterson said Australia was currently in a position where the sentiment was bleak and Australians held little hope for the future.

“The Liberal Party’s task is to convince Australians that we are the best vehicle to deliver that change for them, that any other party is not as well equipped as we are to have an economic plan to get Australia out of this mess,” he said.