Mark Latham blasts One Nation colleagues over comments to US gun lobby

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been caught by a hidden camera appearing to suggest the 1996 Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy.

A second under-cover video has been released by international news agency Al Jazeera. It appears to shows One Nation leader Pauline Hanson expressing doubts as to the truth of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

She was secretly filmed stating she had ‘a lot of questions’ about the events of that fateful day which saw 35 visitors shot dead at the Tasmanian former prison colony. It spurred the then John Howard Liberal government to introduce strict new national gun control laws.

“An MP said it would actually take a massacre in Tasmania to change the gun laws in Australia,” Senator Hanson is seen telling undercover reporter Rodger Muller.

“Haven’t you heard that? Have a look at it. It was said on the floor of parliament.”

Her chief of staff James Ashby was with her in another piece of footage where they expressed their conspiracy theories.

“That whole September 11 thing ...” Mr Ashby says.

“Those shots. They were precision shots,” Senator Hanson responds. “Check the number out. I’ve read a lot and I have read the book on it, Port Arthur. A lot of questions there.”

Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson. Pictured: John Feder/The Australian

TICK BITE INFLAMES HANSON

Earlier today, it was revealed that Senator Hanson was recovering from a tick bite that has left her with a swollen face as her party deals with the fallout from the Al Jazeera video.

Ms Hanson’s cheek is red and swollen and she is under medical care after the bite that can cause paralysis or transmit dangerous illnesses, One Nation officials confirmed.

Her embattled chief of staff James Ashby and Queensland leader Steve Dickson are under fire over revelations they attempted to secure donations from US gun lobbyists.

Mr Ashby said Ms Hanson was “quite ill” and could not front the media to address the controversy that has placed pressure on the government to refuse to preference the right wing party.

Ms Hanson instead Tweeted a comment:

A second episode of Al-Jazeera’s expose of One Nation’s secret dealings with the National Rifle Association in the US is due to be aired on the ABC tonight.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has vowed to preference One Nation below the Coalition and urged the government to do the same.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged One Nation supporters to vote for Liberal or National candidates but has refused to rule out preference deals in individual seats.

“They should vote for the Liberal Party. I’m in the business of attracting the primary votes of Australians,” he said.

He also slammed Ashby and Dickson’s claim that they were drunk when they were caught on camera seeking donations.

“Frankly, being drunk is no excuse for trading away Australia’s gun laws to foreign bidders,” the Prime Minister said today.

Mr Morrison has stepped up his attack on Pauline Hanson’s party while still refusing to confirm where the Liberals will preference One Nation at the election.

He urged One Nation voters to abandon the party at the election.

“My message to them is very simple - don’t vote One Nation,” Mr Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stepped up his attack on One Nation officials who claimed they were drunk when they were caught on camera seeking donations from the US gun lobby. Picture: AAP

James Ashby’s political scandals

‘Poison’: Mark Latham says One Nation was ‘targeted’

“Don’t vote for any of the other minor parties or the independents.

“Vote for the party that can actually deliver on the things that you’re interested in and don’t allow the Labor Party, in cahoots with the Greens, to put the Australian economy on a negative path for the next decade.”

One Nation’s newest recruit Mark Latham has also slammed his colleagues after they were caught on camera seeking up to $20 million from the US gun lobby, saying drinking was “no excuse” for their behaviour.

The NSW MP, who was elected at last weekend’s state poll, has criticised Senator Hanson’s right hand man James Ashby and the party’s Queensland president Steve Dickson for blaming their actions on getting “on the sauce” for three to four hours.

He also slammed media organisation Al Jazeera this morning for its “sting” on his One Nation colleagues after an undercover journalist caught them on tape saying they wanted up to $20 million in donations from the US gun lobby and offering to help push back Australia’s gun control laws.

“I’m not defending anything that they’ve said while they were over there,” Mr Latham told Sydney shock jock Alan Jones on 2GB this morning.

“The NRA is not my cup of tea, I can assure you, and I certainly wouldn’t be talking dollars and cents with them,” he said.

“But the main issue here, I think, is the betrayal of our democracy, the poison that’s put in the system by an entrapment exercise, the like of which we’ve never seen.”

Asked about Mr Dickson’s comments about Muslims and violence in Australia, Mr Latham said: “They said they’ve been on the drink, that’s no excuse.”

“But the language is not phrases or expressions that I would condone in any shape or form.”

One Nation party officials Steve Dickson (left) and James Ashby field questions after the pair were caught in an al-Jazeera investigation. Picture: AAP

He added that the duo had been “entrapped”.

“Anyone in politics would be horrified by that massive invasion of privacy,” he told Jones.

Yesterday, Mr Ashby said he and Mr Dickson were “on the sauce” when they were caught on tape speaking about seeking $20 million from the gun lobby by Rodger Muller, an Australian who posed as a gun rights lobbyist to infiltrate the NRA for Al Jazeera.

“These conversations with the NRA were to look at nothing more than their techniques. This was not about sourcing money from the NRA,” Mr Ashby said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Bill Shorten led the criticism of One Nation’s actions yesterday, slamming any attempts to roll back the nation’s tough gun laws and chasing foreign donations.

Video stills from an Al Jazeera Investigations report into One Nation's trip to America to meet the powerful NRA.

Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson were caught on camera by Mr Muller making positive comments about the NRA’s tactics post mass shootings, talking about the donations they were seeking and about how they would hold the government in a “vice” if they could win more seats.

The footage also shows Mr Dickson criticising Muslim immigration at a gun lobby event in Washington.

“We’ve been importing all these Muslims into Australia,” he said, claiming there were “some really dangerous people” who were “breaking into people’s homes with baseball bats and killing people”.