Pauline Hanson, who the hell do you think you are?

One Nation preys on the fears of alienated voters with con jobs and conspiracy theories, writes Miranda Devine. Hanson’s attack on Scott Morrison is a sly distraction from the guns-for-donations scandal.

You have to hand it to Pauline Hanson. She has chutzpah.

The One Nation leader went on the attack last week to deny Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation of her gonzo sidekicks James Ashby and Steve Dickson and their trip to the US last September to try to score a $20 million donation from the National Rifle Association in return for softening our gun laws.

Hanson’s acting skills were on full display, the “tick bite” that looked more like a stress boil on her right cheek the only sign she knows she’s in trouble.

Instead, she turned the tables on Scott Morrison, after he declared he would preference her party below Labor next election.

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The Prime Minister is a “fool”, she said at a press conference, flanked by chief of staff Ashby and Senate candidate Dickson.

“You, Prime Minister, have just handed the keys to the Lodge to Bill Shorten, Di Natale and the CFMEU”.

She doubled down the next day on the Today Show: “What you have done today, you have put a nail in your coffin and you are a fool…

“I sent a text message to you asking you to not make knee-jerk reactions to this.”

Pauline Hanson went on the Today Show to continue her attack on Scott Morrison. Picture: Today Show

Who the hell does she think she is?

Morrison was right to write off One Nation after the Al Jazeera revelations, not least Hanson peddling the cruel conspiracy hoax that Port Arthur was a government plot to do down gun owners, which her party has pushed for at least 18 years, despite her denials last week.

His principled decision ends the fantasy that One Nation is just a more conservative version of the Coalition.

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With the single exception of newbie Mark Latham in NSW, One Nation are a bunch of grifters who have lucked into a spigot of free taxpayer money — scooping up more than $6m in electoral funding so far.

They prey on the fears of alienated voters left behind by a post-industrial economy and discombobulated by rapid social change.

Hanson articulates their concerns with a grandiose catalogue of grievance: “the sale of our country, the sale of our assets, the Paris agreement, the free trade agreements, all these things, that’s what the change that we want, is getting representation for the people and speaking on behalf of the people of this nation”.

But she has no solutions. As her personal wealth grows, with four properties in NSW and Queensland worth millions of dollars, all she does is set back the conservative cause.

Again and again One Nation preferences usher in Labor/Green governments, most recently in Queensland in 2017.

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Hanson’s rusted-on fans will stand by her. But the prodigal sons and daughters who left mainstream parties from the 2010 election may drift home if they feel wanted.

If not, they now have plenty of alternatives, including the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and a born-again, cashed-up Clive Palmer (perish the thought).

.@Kieran_Gilbert: This latest thing @PaulineHansonOz is saying around a conspiracy at Port Arthur is disgraceful.@mirandadevine: Now you understand why she hasn't immediately sacked Ashby and Dickson; she'd have to sack herself too.

MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #AMagenda pic.twitter.com/BqlZBu9Dsv

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 27, 2019

This is the predicament of One Nation, for all Hanson’s bluster.

It’s broke.

It’s facing stiff competition.

It’s riven by bloody civil war, the most obvious manifestation the punch-up last year between Ashby and former One Nation Senator Brian Burston, which resulted in Ashby’s ban from Parliament House.

Now the Al Jazeera sting has exposed the party’s character flaws.

No matter how thick the smokescreen Hanson throws up, the covert footage of her, Ashby and Dickson speaks for itself.

They were duped by fake gun rights activist, Rodger Muller, of the bogus Gun Rights Australia (GRA). They were lured to the US with the promise of support from the NRA and an introduction to the NRA’s rich donors, the billionaire Koch brothers, from whom they said on camera that they wanted $20m.

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Hanson’s protests are laughable. There she was on the Today show on Friday “categorically” denying her bozos ever offered to water down Australia’s gun laws in return for money.

“They never ever asked the NRA for any money”.

But they were caught on camera in meeting after meeting asking for donations, lobbying NRA representatives, gun manufacturers, gun rights advocates and Koch staffers, explaining what they could offer in return.

Ashby: “If you had 20 [million dollars] you would own the upper house and the lower house”

Dickson: “If we get the balance of power very simply we have the testicles of the government in our hands at every given stage.

“And guns in the scheme of things are still the be-all and end-all. We’ll be able to dictate”.

Oh no, said Hanson, “that was Muller putting words into their mouth …

“Steve said some stupid things … but I know Steve. Steve is a family man [and he] would never ever want to water down the gun laws in Australia the same as I won’t.”

Except One Nation’s 21-point gun policy, written by Dickson, does attempt to water down John Howard’s 1996 National Firearms Agreement, the gun-control legislation introduced after the Port Arthur massacre. It wants to reduce cooling off periods for handguns and change the classification of firearms so they are easier to access.

Hanson’s attacks on Al Jazeera and the ABC are just a sly diversion from this sellout.

“It was an entrapment,” she wailed to Today.

“Who’s to say that this wasn’t a set-up so that eventually they’d get the prime minister of the Liberal party to say we’re going to wipe One Nation altogether.”

Enough. Enough nonsense. Enough with the conspiracy theories. Enough with the One Nation con job.

@mirandadevine