The Aporia · The conspicuous absence from the NSW Liberal Party’s launch

The conspicuous absence from the NSW Liberal Party’s launch

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Maddison, M. (2026, September 19). The conspicuous absence from the NSW Liberal Party’s launch. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-conspicuous-absence-from-the-nsw-liberal-party-s-launch-20260919-p60ys3.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

During the NSW Liberal Party’s launch on Saturday, leaders Kellie Sloane and Angus Taylor focused their speeches on law-and-order issues without mentioning Pauline Hanson or her political party, One Nation. Despite this omission, their policy stances appeared influenced by One Nation's appeal, particularly in areas like gun reform, where they advocated for policies popular among One Nation supporters. Polling data indicated that 63% of voters supported the NSW government’s gun reforms, with support dropping to 45% among One Nation backers and rising to 52% overall supporting a buyback program. The article explores how the Liberals’ strategy contrasts with Labor's more confrontational approach towards One Nation ahead of the upcoming state election.

Written by AI on 2026-09-19, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

During the NSW Liberal Party's launch on Saturday morning in Sydney, leaders Kellie Sloane and Angus Taylor made rousing speeches but notably omitted any mention of One Nation or Pauline Hanson. Despite this, the influence of Hanson’s policies was evident when Sloane announced a Coalition government would freeze the gun buyback scheme and scrap ownership caps for farmers and sporting shooters, a move clearly influenced by policy unpopularity on the right. In another part of his speech, Taylor pledged one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history and criticized Labor as “socialist in all but name,” aiming to rally party members six months before the NSW election. Both Sloane and Taylor’s speeches reflect an attempt to align with conservative voter sentiments while distancing themselves from more extreme political parties like One Nation, indicating a strategic approach to appeal to right-leaning voters ahead of upcoming elections.

Written for “Australian Politics Immigration Debate” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

12%

2 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans right

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

61/100

The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-19 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Max Maddison

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 13 articles by Max Maddison →

Topics

Coalition Liberal Liberals One Nation Sydney

Subjects

Sloane PERSON · 6× One Nation ORG · 5× Liberal NORP · 4× Coalition ORG · 3× Hanson PERSON · 3× Liberals NORP · 3× Taylor PERSON · 3× Chris Minns PERSON · 2× NSW GPE · 2× Sydney GPE · 2×

Narrative

Sloane’s announcement that a Coalition government would freeze the gun buyback and scrap gun ownership caps for farmers and sporting shooters – a backflip seemingly coming for months — clearly had been influenced by the policy’s deep unpopularity on the right.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-19

2026-09-19 · The Sydney Morning Herald

The conspicuous absence from the NSW Liberal Party’s launch · assertive framing

Claims (17 extracted, 2 hedged)

It wasn’t the empty chair reserved for federal Liberal president and former prime minister Tony Abbott – it was the lack of any mention of One Nation or Pauline Hanson in Sloane and Taylor’s combined 43 minutes of speeches. asserted

it → reserve → speeches

Yet the spectral presence of Hanson was impossible to miss. asserted

presence → miss → Hanson

government → freeze → right

“While Chris Minns and Labor have pledged multimillions to join Albanese’s half-baked gun buyback, a Liberal government will be focused on taking the guns out of the hands of the terrorists and the organised crime,” she said. asserted

she → pledge → terrorists

Sloane’s advisors insist she has been publicly critical of the gun reforms for months and the policy has nothing to do with One Nation, but the politics is difficult to ignore. asserted

politics → insist → Nation

That policy might appeal in the regions and outer-suburban seats, but it could backfire in a string of marginal Liberal seats in inner Sydney. uncertain

it → appeal → Sydney

The latest Resolve Monitor poll showed 63 per cent of voters supported the NSW government’s gun reforms, including two-thirds of Coalition voters. asserted

cent → show → voters

Support plunged to 45 per cent among those backing One Nation. asserted

Support → plunge → Nation

More than half of all respondents supported the gun buyback, compared to 20 per cent who opposed. asserted

who → support → cent

Sloane – who looks to be going all-in to fight an election campaign on law-and-order issues – spent two-thirds of her 18-minute speech talking tough on crime. asserted

who → look → crime

She spent about three minutes talking about the economy. asserted

She → spend → economy

“I believe in tough love,” she declared. asserted

she → believe → love

Judging by Sloane’s address, even if One Nation wasn’t mentioned, the Liberals appear fixated on areas where Hanson’s outfit will likely perform best: regional NSW and western Sydney. asserted

outfit → judge → areas

This is despite five of the 11 seats the Liberals hold on less than a 5 per cent margin being close to the city. asserted

Liberals → hold → city

Even Taylor – having watched the seat of Farrer go to One Nation in May, then witnessed Hanson and her supporters condemn his Liberal colleague (and leadership rival) Andrew Hastie as a traitor – could not find a moment in his 25-minute address to mention the populist outfit. Taylor and Sloane apparently believe criticising One Nation will be taken badly by Coalition voters who are wavering or those who have already decided to jump ship. uncertain

who → watch → ship

The Liberals’ strategy of avoidance is diametrically opposed to that of Chris Minns and Anthony Albanese, who have become increasingly strident in their criticism as they treat One Nation as if it is their primary opposition. asserted

it → become → Nation

With six months to the state election, the diverging strategies provide an insight into how each party will deal with the unprecedented dilemma of One Nation, while raising an important question: will either strategy work? asserted

strategy → diverge → question