Former Queensland MP Michael Pucci has become the latest Liberal National party defector to One Nation, joining up as a campaign director for the upcoming state election.
Pucci, 53, a former US marine and Gulf War veteran, held the seat of Logan for one term after the LNP swept to power under Campbell Newman in 2012. He is the fourth former Newman government MP to defect to One Nation since October.
The Western Australian Liberals are reportedly set to break the party’s 16-year nationwide convention by reaching a preference deal with Pauline Hanson’s party.
Earlier this month, One Nation executive member and chief of staff to Hanson, James Ashby, warned the LNP to brace for more defections, as it pursues an unlikely outright majority in the next Queensland parliament.
While the WA move will place the Queensland LNP opposition leader, Tim Nicholls, under pressure to reveal any similar deal, Ashby has said there have been no such discussions with the opposition.
Indigenous state Labor MP turned independent Billy Gordon has told the Australian he would discuss the possibility of a preference deal with One Nation.
Pucci told the Courier-Mail he believed One Nation wanted to look after the best interests of people in Queensland.
Sitting Buderim MP, Steve Dickson, a minister in the former Newman government, has been appointed One Nation’s state leader.
The Queensland Greens convenor, Andrew Bartlett, said the revelation of One Nation’s negotiations with senior WA Liberals showed “the two parties are now soulmates”.
“LNP leader Tim Nicholls is playing voters for fools by refusing to admit that he will seek a similar vote swap with the One Nation party in the upcoming Queensland election,” Bartlett said.
“One Nation has voted side by side with the Liberal party government in the Senate on almost every issue that matters.
“They are so similar that a number of high-profile former Liberals have already found it easy to take the small step across to One Nation, and Pauline Hanson has happily announced a former minister in Campbell Newman’s government as her local ringleader.
“Many Queenslanders are horrified and anxious about events unfolding in America but in a callous bid for political power, it is almost certain the LNP will strike a deal with [US president Donald] Trump’s loudest cheer squad [in Australia].”
Pucci’s Wikipedia profile – updated last night to reflect his move to One Nation – describes him as the first American to have been elected to the Queensland parliament, and the first US marine to serve in an Australian parliament.
The first LNP defector to One Nation in Queensland was Neil Symes, who worked behind a deli counter at Woolworths before winning the seat of Lytton aged 24. Symes announced he had joined One Nation via Instagram last October.
Former Thuringowa MP Sam Cox revealed in January he would run for One Nation in Burdekin.
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