With less than two years to go before the next federal election, Nationals leader Matt Canavan knows his time in Parliament could be running out, with polling showing his Senate seat representing Queensland may be under threat.

The economist got into politics during the first Rudd government, working as chief of staff to then-Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, before being elected to the Senate himself in 2013.

Joyce is “still a mate” Canavan speaks to regularly today, even after Joyce’s dramatic defection to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, which has been gaining voters from both the Coalition and Labor.

Canavan joined us on the podcast to discuss whether he’d consider working in a coalition with One Nation; how to better manage AI, data centres and social media; and if he’d consider shifting to a lower house seat ahead of the next election.

Why One Nation is ‘not really compatible’ with the Coalition

Canavan said that when he speaks to voters around Australia, “there’s a level of engagement that I’ve never seen” – but that many feel frustrated with politics as usual.

More and more people are coming to events than I have ever seen before and people are listening. Now, yes, many of those people at the moment are probably saying that they would vote for One Nation, if an election will be held today. But they are still listening to us, and to me.

More and more people are coming to events than I have ever seen before and people are listening. Now, yes, many of those people at the moment are probably saying that they would vote for One Nation, if an election will be held today. But they are still listening to us, and to me.

Despite more voters shifting away from the Coalition to One Nation, Canavan said he couldn’t see how the party could be part of a future three-way coalition because “[Hanson] is judge, jury and executioner. If you get off on her bad side, she’ll kick you out tomorrow.”

The very structure of One Nation’s party is not really compatible with the way the Liberal and Nationals parties operate. Look, we are different parties, the Liberal and Nationals, and we have slightly different cultures from time to time […] But at a governance level, we’re very similar in terms of how our members of parliament are selected, how our leaders are selected, how we operate with party rooms and processes. We gel together in that respect. […] It’s important to have a proper shadow........

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