Angus Taylor warns of ‘eternity of pain’ if One Nation win government in strongest attack yet on Pauline Hanson

Angus Taylor has dismissed One Nation as a “column of smoke” and incapable of fixing the country’s problems, predicting Pauline Hanson would spend a trillion dollars without lifting living standards or economic growth.

As Hanson met the far-right British activist Tommy Robinson during a visit to Britain, Taylor made his strongest attack yet on her surging political project, recognition of a haemorrhaging of support from traditional Liberal and National party voters.

“To those who feel like lighting a match, believe me when I say that a moment of satisfaction isn’t worth the eternity of pain that will follow,” Taylor said in a speech to the Sydney Institute on Thursday night.

“One Nation claims to offer a way out of our national malaise. In reality, they would only make things worse.”

Taylor accused Hanson of having bad policies, poor judgment and worse personnel, insisting she could provide no answers for Australians who feel left behind or lied to by Labor.

Seeking to speak directly to potential One Nation voters, the opposition leader dubbed Hanson’s proposed solutions as nothing more than “a random grab bag of poorly defined, contradictory, and constantly changing positions” without a serious foundation.

He called One Nation “a one person show”, dismissing the Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts for describing the US as the “world’s greatest terrorist organisation” and the newly elected lower house MP David Farley for voting with the Greens and teal independents.

One Nation has grown from single digit support to passing the Coalition and even Labor in recent opinion polls. The party had primary support of 29% in the most recent Newspoll and Resolve rankings, while last week’s Guardian Essential poll found its primary vote dropping two points, to 26%.

Taylor used the speech to argue that the Albanese government has dramatically increased government spending, without improving living standards or productivity.

But, he said, One Nation would be worse, by doubling down on an “explosion in government”.

“Deep down, their true instincts are toward big government interventionism.

“Their top four financial commitments alone could cost the budget in the order of a trillion dollars over a decade. And they have no clear or credible plan for how they’d pay for these commitments.

“One Nation’s promise to abolish parts of the bureaucracy would cover perhaps just one-fifteenth of these commitments.”

A Hanson-led government would generate a surge in inflation, Taylor said, forcing the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates by about 3 percentage points, increasing the budget deficit and even risking a sovereign debt crisis.

“Their only alternative is deeper cuts to essential services – pensions and Medicare chief among them.

“That’s why I warn that an eternity of pain would follow a One Nation government. You will not fix our nation’s problems by blowing up the joint.”

Hanson is in London ahead of her expected attendance at CPAC Great Britain next week, alongside right-wing figures including the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former UK prime minister Liz Truss.

The One Nation leader will also feature on Robinson’s podcast. Robinson’s appearance with Karl Stefanovic last month led Channel Nine to cut ties with the media personality.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, co-founded the now defunct Islamophobic group the English Defence League, and has convictions for violence, public order offences, and financial and immigration fraud.

His latest book centres on the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, claiming the UK’s population is being “replaced” by non-Anglo immigrants.

In a social media post on Thursday, he described Hanson as one of the “bravest lady’s [sic] on the planet” and “hopefully the next leader” of Australia.