Pauline Hanson’s surprise new move on national campaign

The firebrand One Nation leader has pulled off a last minute manoeuvre after attracting fierce criticism for a new national campaign.

Pauline Hanson appears set to secure dozens of online addresses for a divisive new campaign after several sites were about to be shut down.

The One Nation leader, a fierce opponent of the Voice to Parliament, registered 46 website domain names as part of an “urgent” movement to persuade Australians to vote against it.

“There is nothing in this proposal which addresses real Indigenous disadvantage,” Senator Hanson said, comparing the proposal to the South African apartheid.

“The ‘yes’ campaign is ill-defined and ill-prepared, not even having the foresight to register the domain names we will use to good effect.”

But several registrations, including a handful that closely matched one already used by supporters of an Indigenous Voice to parliament, looked to be faulty.

Pauline Hanson has tightened her ‘vote no’ campaign after licensing issues threatened her powerhold over the domains. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Senator Hanson’s attempt to pick up multiple domain names is known as cybersquatting – a practice regularly investigated by Domain Administration (auDA), the entity responsible for licensing the sites.

To be considered a legitimate site, the licensing body requires the entities to have a “close and substantial connection” to their registered domain name.

“The rules contain strict criteria that registrants must meet to hold their domain name,” an auDA spokesman said.

“Where registrants are found not to have met the requirements of the .au licensing rules, a .au domain name may be suspended or cancelled by auDA.”

However, while One Nation’s bid to register the domain names is being investigated by auDA, Senator Hanson appears to have ducked her way out of trouble.

The licensing body was reviewing three of the websites, but Senator Hanson has registered the sites under business names, securing One Nation’s links to the URLs.

The domains, however, are still under review and are yet to have active websites.

The outcome of the review is expected to be confirmed by the end of this week.

One Nation has not commented publicly on the issue.

Originally published as Pauline Hanson’s surprise new move on national campaign