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Pauline Lee Hanson (née Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party (PHON). She is currently a Senator representing Queensland in the Parliament of Australia. Hanson first entered politics as a member of Ipswich City Council in 1994. She joined the Liberal Party of Australiain 1995 and was preselected for the Division of Oxley at the 1996 federal election, but was disendorsed shortly before the election. Although listed on the ballot paper as the Liberal Party candidate, she won Oxley as an independent. In 1997, Hanson cofounded Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a right-wing political party with a populist and conservative platform. She lost her seat at the 1998 federal election. After leaving federal parliament, Hanson contested several state and federal elections as the leader of One Nation, as the leader of Pauline Hanson's United Australia Party and as an independent. She was expelled from One Nation in 2002. A Brisbane District Court jury found Hanson guilty of electoral fraud in 2003 though the convictions were later overturned by three judges on the Queensland Court of Appeal. As a result of the convictions, Hanson spent 11 weeks in jail prior to the appeal being heard. Hanson rejoined One Nation in 2013, becoming leader again the following year. At the 2016 Australian federal election she was elected to the Senate, representing Queensland, together with three other senators of her party. Contents [hide]

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1Early life and career 2Political offices 3Racism allegations 3.1Policies  3.1.1Anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism  3.1.2Islam 3.2Public opinion 4Political career 4.1Entry into politics  4.1.1Founding of Pauline Hanson's One Nation  4.1.2Maiden speech  4.1.31998 Queensland election campaign 4.21998 re-election campaign 4.3Time in office 4.42001 election campaign 4.5Rattnergate scandal 4.6Ouster from One Nation, campaigning with United Australia Party 4.7Return as One Nation leader 5Personal life 5.1Relationships and children 5.2Fraud conviction and reversal 5.3Television appearances 6Published books 7References 8Further reading 9External links

Early life and career[edit]

Hanson was born Pauline Lee Seccombe on 27 May 1954 in Woolloongabba, Queensland. She was the fifth of seven children (and the youngest daughter) to John Alfred "Jack" Seccombe and Hannorah Alousius Mary "Norah" Seccombe (née Webster).[8][9] She first received schooling at Buranda Girls' School, later attending Coorparoo State School in Coorparoo until she ended her education at age 15, shortly before her first marriage and pregnancy. Jack and Norah Seccombe owned a Fish and Chip Shop in Ipswich, Queensland, in which Hanson and her siblings worked from a young age, preparing meals and taking orders. At an older age, she assisted her parents with more administrative work in bookkeeping and sales ledging.[10] Hanson worked at Woolworths before working in the office administration of Taylors Elliotts Ltd, a subsidiary of Drug Houses of Australia (now Bickford's Australia ), where she handled clerical bookkeeping and secretarialwork. She left Taylors Elliotts after the beginning of her first pregnancy. In 1978, Hanson (then Pauline Zagorski) met Mark Hanson, a tradesman on the Gold Coast. They married in 1980 and established a construction trades business, specialising in roof plumbing. Hanson handled the administrative components of the company, similar to her work with Taylors Elliotts, while her husband dealt with practical labour. In 1987, the couple divorced and the company was liquidated. She then moved back to Ipswich and worked as a barmaid at what was then Booval Bowls Club. Hanson then bought a fish and chip shop with her then-business partner Morrie Marsden. They established the holding company Marsden Hanson Pty Ltd and began operations from their recently opened fish and chip shop in Silkstone, near Ipswich. Hanson and Marsden both shared the administrative responsibilities of the company, however Hanson visibly took on additional practical responsibilities, including buying supplies and produce for the shop and preparing the food, which was among many issues that served Hanson infamy during her first political campaign. Over time, Pauline acquired full control of the holding company, and which was sold upon her election to Parliament in 1996.[11]

Political offices[edit] Hanson entered politics as a member of Ipswich City Council in 1994 when she stood for council to oppose the funding of a new library.[12] Hanson was a member of the Australian Parliament from 1996 to 1998. In 1996 she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the House of Representativeselectorate of Oxley (based in Ipswich) for the March 1996 Federal election. At the time, the seat was thought of as a Labor stronghold. Hanson's Labor predecessor, Les Scott, held it with an almost 15% two-party majority, making it the safest Labor seat in Queensland. The boundaries of the Oxley electorate were significantly altered following a redistribution in 1997, with Hanson's support base in Ipswich between split between Oxley and a newly created electorate of Blair. Having created the One Nation party after her election to parliament, Hanson decided to contest Blair at the next federal election in 1998 but, despite winning a plurality (36%) of the primary vote, the distribution of preferences led to her losing to the Liberal candidate. At the 2016 Australian federal election Hanson was elected to the Senate, representing Queensland.

Racism allegations[edit] Despite Hanson's repeated denials of charges of racism,[13] her views on race, immigration and Islam have been discussed widely in Australia. In her maiden speech to Parliament in 1996, Hanson appealed to economically disadvantaged white Australians by expressing dissatisfaction with government policy on indigenous affairs.[14] Following Hanson's maiden speech her views received negative coverage across Asian news media in 1996, and National Party Deputy and Trade Minister, Tim Fischer, criticised the race "debate" initiated by Hanson, saying it was putting Australian exports and jobs at risk.[15] Other ministers and state and territory leaders followed

Fischer's lead in attacking Hanson.[16] In 1998, the resurgence of popularity of Hanson was met with disappointment in Asian media.[17] Her resignation from politics in 2002 was met with support from academics, politicians and the press across Asia. [18] In 2004, Hanson appeared on the nationally televised ABC interview show Enough Rope where her views were challenged.[10]

Policies[edit] Anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism[edit] In her maiden speech, Hanson proposed a drastic reduction in immigration with particular reference to immigrants from Asia. Hanson criticised the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).[19] Condemning multiculturalism, One Nation has rallied against government immigration and multicultural policies.[20] After Hanson was elected to Parliament in 1996, journalist Tracey Curro asked her on 60 Minutes whether she was xenophobic. Hanson replied, "Please explain?"[21] This response became a much-parodied catchphrase within Australian culture and was included in the title of the 2016 SBS documentary film Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!. In 2006, Hanson made racial slurs against African immigrants. [22] Ten years after her maiden speech, its effects were still being discussed within a racism framework, [23] and were included in resources funded by the Queensland Government on "Combating racism in Queensland".[24] In 2007, Hanson publicly backed Kevin Andrews, then Minister for Immigration under John Howard, in his views about African migrants and crime. [25] Islam[edit] In 2015, Hanson claimed that Halal certification in Australia was funding terrorism.[26] After the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Hanson called for a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia. [ citation needed] [27] The same year, Hanson announced policies including a ban on building new mosques until a royal commission into whether Islam is a religion or a political ideology has been held, and installing CCTV cameras in all existing mosques.[28] She has called for a "moratorium" on accepting Muslim immigrants into Australia. [29] In Pauline Hanson's 2016 maiden speech in the Senate, she said that "We are in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own" and called for banning Muslim migration.[ 30] The speech prompted a walk out by Senate members of the Australian Greens.[30] After the 2017 Westminster attack she repeated her stance on banning Muslims from entering into Australia.

Public opinion[edit] After her election in 1996, an estimated 10,000 people marched in protest against racism in Melbourne, and other protests followed, while Anglican and Catholic church leaders warned that the controversy threatened the stability of Australia's multicultural society. Also repudiating Hanson's views on immigration and multiculturalism were Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, the Queensland National Senator Ron Boswell, Sir Ronald Wilson and former Prime Minister Paul Keating.[31] At the 1997 annual conference of the Australian and New Zealand Communications Association (ANZCA) at La Trobe University, a paper was presented with the title "Phenomena and Epiphenomena: is Pauline Hanson racist?".[32] In 1998, social commentator Keith Suter argued that Hanson's views were better understood as an angry response to globalisation. [33] A poll in The Bulletin magazine at this time suggested that if Hanson formed a political party, it would win 18 percent of the vote. After months of silence, then-Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley forwarded a bipartisan motion against racial discrimination and reaffirming support for a nondiscriminatory immigration policy. The motion was carried on the voices.[16] Hanson did not relent in articulating her views and continued to address public meetings around Australia. The League of Rights offered financial and organisational support for her campaign against Asian immigration, and in December she announced she was considering forming a political party to contend the next election.[16] Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs under John Howard, issued a media release calling on Pauline Hanson, David Oldfieldand David Ettridge to distance themselves from the racist slurs.[34] In 2000, the University of NSWPress published the book Race, Colour and Identity in Australia and New Zealand, [35] which identified Hanson as a central figure in the "racism debate" in Australia of the 1990s, noting that senior Australian academics such as Jon Stratton, Ghassan Hage and Andrew Jakubowicz had explored Hanson's significance in an international as well as national context.[36]

Political career[edit] Entry into politics[edit] Hanson's first election to office was in 1994, earning a seat on the Ipswich City Council, on the premise of an opposition to extra funding. She held the seat for 11 months, before being removed in 1995 due to administrative changes. In 1996 she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the House of Representatives seat of Oxley (based in Ipswich) for the March 1996 Federal election. At the time, the seat was thought of as a Labor stronghold. Hanson's Labor predecessor, Les Scott, held it with an almost 15% two-party majority, making it the safest Labor seat in Queensland. Because of this, Hanson was initially dismissed and ignored by the media and the general public, believing that she had no chance of winning the seat. However, Hanson received widespread media attention when, leading up to the election, she advocated the abolition of special government assistance for Aboriginal Australians, and she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party. Ballot papers had already been printed listing Hanson as the Liberal candidate, and the Australian Electoral Commission had closed nominations for the seat. As a result, Hanson was still listed as the Liberal candidate when votes were cast, even though Liberal leader John Howard had declared she would not be allowed to sit with the Liberals if elected. [37] On election night, Hanson took a large lead on the first count and picked up enough Democrat preferences to defeat Scott on the sixth count. She won 54 percent of the twocandidate preferred vote. Had she still been running as a Liberal, the 19.3 percent swing would have been the largest two-party swing of the election.[38][unreliable source?] Due to her disendorsement, she entered parliament as an independent.[39] Founding of Pauline Hanson's One Nation[edit] Main article: Pauline Hanson's One Nation In February 1997, Hanson, David Oldfield and David Ettridge founded the Pauline Hanson's One Nation political party.[40] Disenchanted rural voters attended her meetings in regional centres across Australia as she consolidated a support base for the new party. An opinion poll in May of that year indicated that the party was attracting the support of 9 per cent of Australian voters and that its popularity was primarily at the expense of the Liberal Party-National Party Coalition's base.[41] Hanson's presence in the suburb of Dandenong, Victoria, to launch her party was met with demonstrations on 7 July 1997, with 3000–5000 people rallying outside. A silent vigil and multicultural concert was organised by the Greater Dandenong City Council in response to Hanson's presence, while a demonstration was organised by an anti-racism body. The majority of attendees were of Asian origin, where an open platform attracted leaders of the Vietnamese, Chinese, East Timorese and Sri Lankan communities. Representatives from churches, local community groups, lesbian and gay and socialist organisations also attended and addressed the crowd.[42] In its late 1990s incarnation, One Nation called for zero net immigration, an end to multiculturalism and a revival of Australia's Anglo-Celtic cultural tradition which it says has been diminished, the abolition of native title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), an end to special Aboriginal funding programs, opposition to Aboriginal reconciliation which the party says will create two nations, and a review of the 1967 constitutional referendum which gave the Commonwealth power to legislate for Aborigines. The party's economic position was to support protectionism and trade retaliation, increased restrictions on foreign capital and the flow of capital overseas, and a general reversal of globalisation's influence on the Australian economy. Domestically, One Nation opposed privatisation, competition policy, and the GST, while proposing a government subsidised people's bank to provide 2 per cent loans to farmers, small business, and manufacturers. On foreign policy, One Nation called for a review of Australia's United Nations membership, a repudiation of Australia's UN treaties, an end to foreign aid and to ban foreigners from owning Australian land. [43] Maiden speech[edit]

On 10 September 1996, Hanson gave her maiden speech to the House of Representatives, which was widely reported in the media. In her opening lines, Hanson said that "I won the seat of Oxley largely on an issue that has resulted in me being called a racist. That issue related to my comment that Aboriginals received more benefits than non-Aboriginals". Hanson then asserted that Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians", and that these immigrants "have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate". Hanson argued that "mainstream Australians" were instead subject to "a type of reverse racism ... by those who promote political correctness and those who control the various taxpayer funded 'industries' that flourish in our society servicing Aboriginals, multiculturalists and a host of other minority groups". This theme continued with the assertion that "present governments are encouraging separatism in Australia by providing opportunities, land, moneys and facilities available only to Aboriginals". Among a series of criticisms of Aboriginal land rights, access to welfare and reconciliation, Hanson criticised the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), saying "Anyone with a criminal record can, and does, hold a position with ATSIC". There then followed a short series of statements on family breakdown, youth unemployment, international debt, the Family Law Act, child support, and the privatisation of Qantas and other national enterprises. The speech also included an attack on immigration and multiculturalism, a call for the return of hightariff protectionism, and criticism of economic rationalism.[14] Her speech was delivered uninterrupted by her fellow parliamentarians as it was the courtesy given to MPs delivering their maiden speeches. 1998 Queensland election campaign[edit] One Nation attracted nearly one-quarter of the vote in the 1998 state election and won 11 of 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.[44] During this period, new right-wing parties emerged in most states, running on platforms which were equally anti-elitist but not as populist as One Nation.[citation needed] Australia First, led by Graeme Campbell, built support in Newcastle and the southern suburbs of Sydney. The United Australia Party fielded candidates in the 1997 state election in South Australia; the Australian Reform Party was active in rural Victoria and New South Wales; The Australians formed out of the defunct Confederate Action Party in Queensland; and Tasmania Firstfielded candidates in the 1998 state election.[45]

1998 re-election campaign[edit] In 1999, The Australian reported that support for One Nation had fallen from 22% to 5%.[46] One Nation Senate candidate Lenny Spencer blamed the press together with party director David Oldfield for the October 1998 election defeat,[47] while the media reported the redirecting of preferences away from One Nation as the primary reason, with a lack of party unity, poor policy choices and an "inability to work with the media" also responsible. [48] Ahead of the 1998 federal election, an electoral redistribution essentially split Oxley in half. Oxley was reconfigured as a marginal Labor seat, losing most of its more rural and exurban area while picking up the heavily pro-Labor suburb of Inala. A new seat of Blair was created in the rural area surrounding Ipswich.[49] Hanson knew her chances of holding the reconfigured Oxley were slim, especially after former Labor state premier Wayne Goss won preselection for the seat.[50] After considering whether to contest a Senate seat—which, by most accounts, she would have been heavily tipped to win—she opted to contest Blair. [49] Despite its very large notional Liberal majority (18.7 percent), most of her base was now located there. Hanson launched her 1998 election campaign with a focus on jobs, rather than a focus on race/ethnicity or on "the people" against "the elites". Instead Hanson focused on unemployment and the need to create more jobs not through government schemes but by "cheap loans to business, by more apprenticeships, and by doing something about tariffs".[51] Hanson won 36 percent of the primary vote,[52] slightly over 10% more than the second-place Labor candidate, Virginia Clarke. However, preferences were enough to elect the Liberal candidate, Cameron Thompson, who had been third in the primary vote. With all three major parties preferencing each other ahead of Hanson, Thompson overtook Clarke on National preferences and defeated Hanson on Labor preferences.[52] It has been suggested by Thompson

that Hanson's litigation against parodist Pauline Pantsdown was a distraction from the election which contributed to her loss.[53] Nationally, One Nation gained 8.99 percent of the Senate vote[54] and 8.4% of the Representatives vote,[52] but only one MP was elected – Len Harris as a Senator for Queensland. Heather Hill had been elected to this position, but the High Court of Australi...