‘I’m no sexual predator’: One Nation’s Parliament punch-up aired as senator sues Pauline Hanson

Former One Nation senator Brian Burston is suing party founder Pauline Hanson after sexual harassment allegations and a bloodied punch-up imploded the party.

Former One Nation senator Brian Burston claims Pauline Hanson tried to “destroy” him with a campaign of allegations including casting him as a sexual predator who abused and unfairly fired his female staff.

The former senator, breaking down in tears in court, described the moment his relationship with One Nation imploded in a literal blood-smeared confrontation with Ms Hanson’s chief of staff in the halls of Parliament House.

Mr Burston is suing Ms Hanson in the Federal Court after she shared on Facebook a video of a speech she’d made in the senate in February 2019.

The court heard the post, alongside the video, said the taxpayer was footing the bill for multiple unfair dismissal claims and was under investigation for “serious sexual harassment”.

The speech is protected by parliamentary privilege meaning it cannot be sued over – but Mr Burston’s lawyers argue the text accompanying the Facebook post is not.

Former One Nation senator Brian Burston, who is suing Pauline Hanson for defamation, is seen leaving the Federal Court in Sydney. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

The former politician said it wasn’t “crash hot” sitting in the Senate listening to Ms Hanson, his former long-time friend, make such accusations against him.

“(I felt) devastated, actually, that a friend who was so close to me would say such a thing about me,” he told the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday.

“What was she saying about you?” his barrister, Bruce McClintock SC asked.

“That I’m a sexual predator.”

“Is it true?” Mr McClintock continued.

“No,” Mr Burston replied.

One Nation founder Pauline Hanson accused Mr Burston of being a “sexual predator”, he told the court. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr McClintock said the accusations were perhaps the most serious accusations to make against a man – aside from paedophilia.

The February 2019 Facebook post came during a tumultuous breakdown between Mr Burston and Ms Hanson, his lawyers said.

That same month, Mr Burston told the court, he was at a dinner for the Minerals Council in the Great Hall of Parliament House where Ms Hanson and her chief of staff, James Ashby, were also in attendance.

The former senator told the court Mr Ashby raced over to him, holding his phone up to film or take photographs, and began quizzing him about the sexual harassment accusations.

Mr Burston said he tried to grab the phone from the “goading” Mr Ashby and threw it on the ground before trying to leave with his wife, Ros.

A scuffle between Mr Burston and Mr Ashby was captured on CCTV.

But Mr Ashby grabbed his phone and returned, Mr Burston claimed.

“By the time Ashby got over he started filming (my wife) and said ‘Hi Ros, what do you think of the sexual harassment charges?’,” Mr Burston told the court.

“She said ‘you’re a liar, go away James, go away James, go away James’.”

Mr Burston said he pushed Mr Ashby away and through an exit door and Mr Ashby “took a swing” at him but missed.

Mr Burston, then 70, had cut his hand in the scuffle which was caught on video.

The scuffle made headlines when it emerged Mr Burston had smeared blood on the office door of the One Nation leader.

“I didn’t know at the time, I was traumatised,” Mr Burston said.

“It wasn’t only Hanson’s (door), it was Ashby’s. I honestly don’t recall doing it,” Mr Burston said.

CCTV later confirmed he had smeared the blood, he told the court, and he apologised to the senate.

Mr Burston’s lawyer alleges Ms Hanson engaged in a “sustained campaign” against his client. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Mr Burston’s lawyers said One Nation’s ugly implosion traced back to 2018 when the party’s senators agreed to support the Coalition government’s tax cuts for businesses.

The court heard Ms Hanson changed position, multiple times, on supporting or opposing the legislation in the Senate but Mr Burston refused to change course because he had “shaken hands” with Coalition Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to support the bill.

Ms Hanson, according to Mr Burston’s lawyers, waged public “warfare” against her own senator in the media because he refused to back down on his handshake.

“ (Ms Hanson’s) attitude is there has to be complete loyalty to her no matter what,” Mr McClintock said.

“(It) was a sustained campaign to destroy my client and punish him for his temerity for not doing what he was told.”

Mr Burston is also suing over another media interview Ms Hanson did, with journalist Deborah Knight, and a series of text messages Ms Hanson sent to Mr Burston’s wife the day after the fight with Mr Ashby.

In those messages, which have been produced to the court, Ms Hanson tells Mrs Burston that her husband is being investigated for complaints by multiple women.

“They can’t all be wrong,” Ms Hanson wrote.

Ms Hanson also wrote that Mr Burston was infatuated with one of his staffers.

Mr Burston denies every claim of sexual harassment against his staffers, and any impropriety.

The court expects to hear from his former staffers in the coming days.

Ms Hanson is represented by Sue Chrysanthou SC, who has previously represented other politicians including Christian Porter and Andrew Laming.