Pauline Hanson banking on a big shake-up

POLITICAL phoenix Pauline Hanson will push for a royal commission into banks, signalling an uncomfortable test for Malcolm Turnbull.

POLITICAL phoenix Pauline Hanson will push for a royal commission into banks, signalling an uncomfortable test for Malcolm Turnbull.

The Senator-elect, who laid low yesterday to spend time with her family in southeast Queensland, wants to have a constructive role with MPs but has a strong view on economic policies.

The Senator-elect will urge whoever forms government to hold a royal commission into banks, which have been accused of colluding and ripping off customers.

In the lead-up to the election campaign, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten argued Australia needed the bosses of the “Big Four” banks to ­appear before a commission to explain their business practices, but the Prime Minister has repeatedly ruled out the idea.

If Mr Turnbull can form government, he faces having to horse trade with new senators to get his economic agenda through a more fractured Upper House. It has been predicted Ms Hanson’s running mate, Mal Roberts, could also win a seat in the red chamber.

Ms Hanson, a second-time politician, held the federal seat of Oxley from 1996-1998 and was jailed on electoral fraud charges in 2003, only to have the sentence overturned.

“I remember coming out of prison and saying I’d have rocks in my head to actually go back and do it again but the support I’ve received from Australians ... is why I’ve kept going,” she said late on Saturday night.

The Courier-Mail understands she will seek to speak to unions and workers before deciding how to vote on the restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Bill.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said his party would make it uncomfortable for the potential kingmaker.

“We will take it right up to her, to show that in a modern Australia there is no place for racism, there is no place for bigotry, for the sort of ­hatred that she is spreading through her views,” Senator Di Natale said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged new politicians to put their home state first.

“My message to all the senators is you must stand up for Queensland but you must act responsibly,” she said.

Mr Roberts said he was proud of Senator-elect Hanson.

“It feels very pleasing for Pauline because this is really based on her name, her work,” he said.

“But it also feels very satisfying for me because I know she has chosen me because of my skills and because I stand up just like she does and I speak forthrightly too.”

Asked about his first priorities, he said: “The first thing is to make sure I get into the Senate.

“There has been a lot of tricks played on Pauline, dirty tricks in the past, so we’ve got to wait.”