Pauline Hanson backs down on ABC legal proceedings and is forced to pay the broadcaster’s fees

BREAKING: Pauline Hanson has been ordered to pay the ABC’s legal fees after trying to stop it from broadcasting more secret One Nation recordings.

Senator Pauline Hanson at a Senate Estimates committee at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith.

PAULINE Hanson has been ordered to pay the ABC’s legal fees after trying to stop it from broadcasting more secret One Nation recordings.

The NSW Supreme Court made the ruling today after One Nation last week sought an injunction to permanently stop former party treasurer Ian Nelson and the ABC from publishing or broadcasting secret recordings from party meetings.

Lawyers for Ms Hanson last week lodged the injunction in the NSW Supreme Court to stop the national broadcaster from releasing more material and requested Mr Nelson and the ABC pay the politician damages for releasing “confidential information”.

Ms Hanson reportedly requested “ … all recordings in the possession, custody or control” of either Ian Nelson and the ABC be delivered to her.

Ms Hanson withdrew legal proceedings against the ABC today.

The lodgement of the injunction came after the ABC broadcast a secretly recorded conversation between Ms Hanson and Mr Nelson where the party leader expressed concern the alleged donation of a light aircraft would become public.

Justice Francois Kunc on Thursday ordered Mr Nelson be restrained from “broadcasting, publishing, distributing, copying, using or dealing in any way” with telephone recordings which concern One Nation until the day it returned to court today.

The proceedings against Mr Nelson are continuing.

Ms Hanson has also previously taken aim at the ABC over a secret phone recording of tense discussions between the One Nation leader and the party’s former senator Rod Culleton that was aired on the national broadcaster in April this year.

The network revealed it obtained a series of emails which indicated Ms Hanson was aware of Mr Culleton’s legal woes when she selected him to join the party despite later publicly criticising him over it and urging him to stand down.

Mr Culleton secretly recorded a phone conversation with Ms Hanson after his private legal affairs played out across the media and she allegedly withdrew her support of him.

Mr Culleton can be heard telling Ms Hanson: “You’re getting angry with me, Pauline”.

Ms Hanson said: “You’ve been in politics for, what, six months? I’ve been doing it for 20 years. Don’t tell me how to run politics and how the system works. I think I know a little bit more than what you do.”

Ms Hanson continued the heated exchange: “Go and read your constitution section 44.2 and it states that if you have a criminal conviction, more than 12 months sentence. I haven’t done that, Rod. You did it before you were actually standing. Now they’ve caught up with you over this. That is the facts. Right? Now don’t try and blame me.”

Mr Culleton replied: “I’m not blaming you. But I don’t seem to be getting support from you in a sense now you’re wanting me to stand down.”

Ms Hanson advised him to “think about it” and get some legal advice.

“I’ll leave it up to you. I’ll see you at parliament next week,” she said.