One Nation bars The Project from Pauline Hanson’s Queensland campaigning events
THE Project guest host Hamish Macdonald is asking Pauline Hanson to please explain why the show’s crew is being excluded from her election campaign events.
ONE Nation has reportedly barred The Project from campaign events in Queensland, turning a crew from the popular Network 10 program away from a pub appearance by Pauline Hanson.
The panel show’s sometimes host Hamish Macdonald tweeted that a worker at the Kalamia Hotel in the Central Queensland town of Ayr told the crew “you are not welcome”.
The man said he had been instructed by the party to “bar” The Project from covering the campaign event which had been advertised locally under the banner “Pauline’s in town”.
“This gentleman says the party has instructed him to bar (The Project) from covering a (Pauline Hanson) campaign event in Ayr,” he tweeted on Friday morning.
McDonald went on to ask: “Please explain?”
“Not sure why (Pauline Hanson) is singling out (The Project) from #QldVotes 2017 campaign events, while letting the rest of the media in,” he wrote.
News.com.au has approached One Nation for the party’s side of the story, but is yet to receive a response.
Ms Hanson has been campaigning around Queensland ahead of the state election later this month, making her way up the Queensland coast on board a branded “battler bus” targeting regional seats.
Please explain!? Not sure why @PaulineHansonOz is singling out @theprojecttv from #QldVotes2017 campaign events, while letting the rest of the media in. #qldpol #AusPol
â Hamish Macdonald (@hamishNews) November 10, 2017
The event The Project didn’t get to cover was taking place in the electorate of Burdekin, which One Nation is looking to wrestle from Queensland’s Liberal National Party.
While it’s unusual for a politician to ban media from a campaign event — which they usually hold for the purpose of getting media attention — the move is not unprecedented when it comes to Pauline Hanson.
The outspoken Senator earlier this year announced an ABC ban, saying she’d “had a gutful of the media”, and would refuse to appear on the national broadcaster’s airwaves after its Four Corners program aired an investigation into her party.
“I won’t be doing any interviews with the ABC and they are actually really out to get my scalp and so are other journalists and I’ve heard about that. It’s all about who can actually get Pauline Hanson’s scalp,” she said.
“To the ABC, don’t bother ringing me up for any interviews. It’s not happening.”
News.com.au has also contacted Channel 10 for comment.