Pauline Hanson has hired Chris Taylor, who served as general counsel to former prime minister Scott Morrison, to run her office, and handed James Ashby a new role as One Nation's party director with authority over the party's national operations and every campaign on the calendar.
The restructure was reported on Monday by The Australian's political editor Geoff Chambers, who wrote that Mr Taylor started in the chief of staff job the same day. It's the clearest sign yet that the One Nation leader intends to convert a Newspoll primary vote of 30% into a professional election machine, and she's staffing it with people who learned their trade at the top of the Coalition and the big end of town.
The timing told its own story. The same morning the appointments broke, Senator Hanson was in Melbourne unveiling a full upper house ticket for Victoria's 28 November election, led by new state leader Warren Pickering. The machinery announced in Canberra is already running in the states.
Chris Taylor walks out of the banking lobby and into Hanson's office
Mr Taylor comes to the job from the top tier of government and corporate law. He's spent 25 years working as a lawyer in Australia and the United States, served as Mr Morrison's general counsel and senior adviser through the pandemic years and ahead of the 2022 election, and most recently sat as chief of policy at the Australian Banking Association under former Labor premier Anna Bligh and then former Liberal Senate leader Simon Birmingham, according to The Australian.
He'll run Senator Hanson's parliamentary office and finalise One Nation's policy agenda for the next federal election, due by May 2028.
Mr Taylor said he'd spent his career "taking on difficult problems across government, business and politics".
"I refuse to believe our country's best days are behind it. Australians need someone who will stand up for them and help them get ahead. That is exactly what Pauline Hanson and her team are doing, and I'm looking forward to being part of it," he said.
Senator Hanson said she was "delighted" with the recruit: "Chris brings experience across campaigns, public policy and law at the highest levels of government and business."
James Ashby gets the job he's been doing anyway, and now it's full time
Mr Ashby has been Senator Hanson's chief of staff and closest adviser since 2015, and the new party director post gives him oversight of national operations, campaign infrastructure, advertising and digital across every election ahead. The role sits outside the parliamentary staffing system, which The Australian notes frees him from the disclosure rules that bind political staffers.
The senator, 72, said Mr Ashby had built "an extraordinary campaign operation with me, including the success of Fire the Liar".
"I want him doing that work full-time, working with our campaign teams, strengthening our organisation and taking our message directly to Australians through the elections ahead so we can give Australians a voice," she said.
Mr Ashby, who The Australian reports is updating his pilot's licence to fly the five seat plane donated to the party by Gina Rinehart, put it more bluntly.
"Pauline has now given me one job: get out on the road and make sure Australians who have been ignored by the major parties are heard," he said.
"The major parties have enormous political machines behind them. We have Australians who are ready to stand up and fight for a better country. I know which side of this fight I would rather be on."
Political insiders believe Mr Ashby will himself run for a seat federally, according to the paper. Candidate vetting has burned One Nation in past campaigns, and recruiting strong local candidates is now explicitly his job.
The machine is already rolling in Victoria and Western Australia
The restructure lands in the middle of a packed election calendar. One Nation has candidates locked in for up to 76 of Victoria's 88 lower house seats, and as of Monday a lead candidate in all eight upper house regions, including Daniel Andrews' former bodyguard Chris Burson and Liberal defector Colleen Harkin.
Before Victorians vote, there's the Secret Harbour byelection in Western Australia later this month, where the WA Liberals have already preferenced One Nation above Labor. The NSW state election follows in March, and senior One Nation figures believe Anthony Albanese could go early federally, any time from August next year, The Australian reports.
The party is recruiting donors, staffers and campaigners who previously worked for the Coalition, with more appointments expected in coming months. That flow of talent tracks with what the numbers say: a DemosAU mega poll in July showed One Nation can form government, while the Liberals argue over whether they're allowed to work with the party at all.
"The major parties have stopped listening to regular Australians. Australians are looking for an alternative, and One Nation is ready to stand up for them," Senator Hanson said.
"That is why I am travelling the country asking Australians what is holding back their families, their businesses and their communities. We intend to take what they tell us into our policy agenda for the next federal election."
Parliament returns Tuesday with the ISIS fighters bill waiting
Mr Taylor's first sitting week starts immediately. The Australian reports Senator Hanson will use parliament's return next Tuesday to promote her Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill, the ban she wrote after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke conceded the door was open to returning ISIS members, and to keep the pressure on Labor over fighters and brides coming home.
She said she's focused on "building the strongest team One Nation has ever had, because Australians are asking more of us than ever before". As of Monday, that team includes Scott Morrison's former lawyer.
