Angus Taylor Receives Muted Reception at CPAC Compared to Pauline Hanson

Almost the entire audience rose to their feet at the end of both speeches, before large numbers promptly filed out of the room as Nationals leader Matt Canavan followed Hanson, and deputy leader Bridget McKenzie followed Joyce.

As the first sitting Liberal leader to address the once counter-cultural conference, Taylor, and Nationals leader Matt Canavan offered nothing new beyond a refreshed mea culpa to straying Coalition voters and a marked reticence to comment on any deal-making with One Nation. The crowd was not quick to rise after either speech.

Their comments were almost the polar opposites of the two clear points Hanson offered: conservative voters should not forget the Coalition’s policy failures in the last government; and she would happily form government with Taylor and Canavan to give Prime Minister Anthony Albanese the boot.

Despite repeated heckling for Taylor to offer a full-throated plan to team up with One Nation, the opposition leader stuck to well-worn territory: the Albanese government was socialist, power-hungry and hates aspiration, and the only thing Labor loves more than destroying industry was keeping their voters on government handouts.