‘Personal sledge’: Health Minister Mark Butler dismisses One Nation’s anti-Labor fundraiser

Health Minister Mark Butler has downplayed the significance of One Nation’s anti-Labor fundraiser, which has raised more than $2.5m in less than 48 hours, as the Liberals insist no election deal is on the table with the far-right party.

In its fundraising drive – titled “FIRE THE LIAR!” – the right-wing populist party has accused Anthony Albanese of lying about the stage 3 tax cuts, energy prices, and the Voice to parliament. It has steadily raised funds since launching on Wednesday morning, but unlike most online donation tools, there is no publicly accessible record of donation names or amounts.

The Prime Minister subsequently cast doubt on the online donation drive’s veracity and questioned what “evidence” there was to support the amount of funds contributed.

On Thursday, Pauline Hanson took to social media to post the results of a so-called “forensic audit” conducted by software developer Daryl Monnink which she claimed proved the fundraiser’s legitimacy.

On Friday, Mr Butler told Seven’s Sunrise the amount raised would “pale in comparison to the money that One Nation receives from a billionaire like Gina Rinehart”.

He insisted the mammoth fundraising effort was not a “big story beyond this week and maybe next week”.

“I get that it’s funding a good personal sledge that One Nation is driving through the Prime Minister’s own electorate,” Mr Butler said.

“But at the end of the day, what we’re seeing here is a remaking of the Coalition with some different faces but the same agenda.

“Opposed to wage increases, we’ve heard that from the Liberal Party and One Nation, hostile to Medicare, determined to sow the politics of division and talk this country down.”

The comments prompted Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume, appearing on the same program, to accuse the government of being disconcerted by the donation drive.

“You are rattled, aren’t you Mark? You are rattled,” she said.

Asked about One Nation’s fundraiser, Senator Hume responded by citing the experience of a Liberal colleague who had “raised more money since Labor’s terrible budget just one month ago than he did in the entire year prior”.

“Australians are angry, and that is playing out in our politics now,” she said.

Senator Hume later ruled out the Liberals striking a non-compete deal with One Nation ahead of the next federal election.

“That’s not on the cards. And an election is now 18 months to two years away,” she said.

“To begin with, we never ever talk about preferences before an election is actually called because you don’t know what policies they have, you don’t know what candidates they have, you don’t know what One Nation are going to be doing in two years time.”

One Nation has claimed 28,000 people donated in the first 24 hours of the fundraiser going live, with $15,000 being the largest donation.

The proceeds of this newly bolstered war chest would be used to target Labor’s stronghold in Western Australia, which Senator Hanson described as being on her “hit list”.

The One Nation leader has also set her sights on the seats of government ministers including Tony Burke, Clare O’Neil and Madeleine King, she told a Perth fundraiser this week.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan told Sky News only a Liberal-National government could deliver the “solid, coherent economic plan” Australians were asking for but despite this welcomed One Nation’s targeting of Labor seats.

“I welcome everybody trying to take down this government, because that is the first step,” he said.

“So, good on One Nation for doing this. They’re saying that funding, now over $2 million, is going to be used to root out Labor members of parliament.”

He said One Nation’s targeting of Nationals seats would not “help change the government”. “We’re all on the same page here of getting rid of this government, it’ll be then up to the Australia people about what form of government they want,” he said.