One Nation's Victorian leader Warren Pickering has slammed net zero aspirations as a national self-harm and vowed to blow the state's debt-riddled finances wide open in a tense press event 16 days out from the election.
Question-hungry journalists gathered on Thursday for the chance to grill the Pakenham candidate and One Nation Victorian president in a speaking event organised by the Melbourne Press Club and Rural Press Club of Victoria.
Mr Pickering is vying to become Victoria’s next leader on November 28 in what the electoral commission expects to be the state's most complicated count.
Delivering a 20-minute keynote address, Mr Pickering outlined his party's plan to erase net zero ambitions, make government documents and spending publicly available and overhaul the police, corrections and judicial systems to make Victoria the toughest state on crime.
Despite journalists criticising a lack of formal policy costings, Mr Pickering denied the pledges would take Victoria past the current debt forecast of $199 billion by 2029-30.
"Our budget is not about costings, it's about savings," Mr Pickering retorted.
"We intend to offset that with billions in savings once we take control and we can conduct a full audit of the treasury."
One of One Nation's largest budget savings would come by slashing what he labelled "net zero scam" projects, along with ripping up Victoria's Treaty.
"We're the only party dedicated to ending this national self-harm," he said of renewable energy projects.
The state's reliance on international education for economic growth, which is Victoria's top export, was "a crying shame", Mr Pickering said.
"It shouldn't be an industry that our state depends on for its economic prosperity," he argued.
He denied suggestions One Nation was fuelling anti-migrant rhetoric and suggested successful cultural cohesion came down to economic prosperity.
"Provide Victorian people with the economic conditions to thrive and they generally get along,": Mr Pickering said.
While Pickering's appearance at the Melbourne Press Club event may have seemed a peace offering following a tumultuous relationship with journalists, the defence veteran accused the media of disproportionately targeting One Nation.
"We've tried engaging many of you in good faith, sadly few of you returned it," he said.
However, an olive branch of sorts saw Mr Pickering ensure all journalists would be added to the party's mailing list after outlets including the ABC, The Age and The Guardian were previously refused attendance at media events.
He also guaranteed elected One Nation candidates would be able to engage with media without inference from One Nation headquarters or the party's divisive national leader Pauline Hanson.
"Senator Hanson has no desire to interfere in the way we do things in Victoria, or how we vote on things, or who we engage with," Mr Pickering said.
Latest polling shows One Nation on 23 per cent of first preference votes ahead of the November 28 election, according to a Resolve Political Monitor published by The Age.
The survey of 1000 people in November pegged the party second to the coalition at 30 per cent.
