The One Nation party is calling for an end to immigration from Asia, an end to foreign investment and the reintroduction of high tariffs to protect Australian farms and factories - policies the Prime Minister describes as "deranged".

Now Mr Howard wants his Liberal Party MPs to put One Nation last on their "how to vote" card in the next election for the national parliament.

Voting is compulsory in Australia, and voters are also required to number each candidate in order of preference, so putting One Nation last would seriously harm Pauline Hanson's chances of winning seats in the House of Representatives.

Mr Howard's problem is that he has no authority to insist that Liberal Party candidates do as he asks - and some clearly would prefer to put the opposition Labour Party last on their ticket.

More importantly, the Senate - the upper house of parliament - has a different voting system which tends to favour minor parties.