Federal election explainer: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation policies

One Nation was set to dominate the Senate after the 2016 saw four candidates elected but since then the party has disintegrated.

Pauline Hanson made a triumphant return to Australia’s parliament in 2016 when she won a Senate seat alongside three other One Nation candidates.

But since then her party has been plagued by resignations, allegations of sexual harassment and late-night punch-ups.

Here is a rundown of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation history, policies and controversies.

WHO IS PAULINE HANSON?

The Ipswich fish-and-chip shop owner originally stood as a candidate for the Liberal Party in the seat of Oxley but was disendorsed just before the 1996 election after writing a letter to the editor that criticised welfare for Aboriginal people.

She sat as an independent before forming her party One Nation with David Oldfield and David Ettridge in 1997.

Pauline Hanson in 1998.

Ms Hanson and Mr Ettridge were later charged with electoral fraud for not having the 500 members needed for registration and sentenced to three years in jail in 2003. After almost three months, they were freed on appeal and the charges were quashed.

She rejoined the party as a rank-and-file member in 2013 before returning as leader in 2014.

Throughout the years she contested many state and federal elections but it wasn’t until 2016 that she returned to the parliament after being elected to the Senate, along with three other senators: Malcolm Roberts, Brian Burston and Rod Culleton.

WHAT WERE ONE NATION’S BIGGEST CONTROVERSIES?

There are too many to list but the moment that made Ms Hanson infamous was her 1996 maiden speech when she said Australia was “in danger of being swamped by Asians”.

When she returned to parliament as a senator in 2016, she appeared to reference her first speech saying Australia was now being “swamped by Muslims”. She also wore a burqa into parliament to make a political point.

Pauline Hanson wearing a burqa during Senate Question Time in 2017. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP.

However, Ms Hanson has always maintained she is not racist and One Nation has had Asian and Muslim candidates including a Muslim woman who is a candidate in the seat of Hornsby in the upcoming NSW election.

More recently she tried to get an “It’s OK to be white” motion passed in the Senate to acknowledge the “deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation”.

It failed but many Coalition senators voted in favour of it, although this was later blamed on an “administrative process failure” that caused MPs to vote the wrong way. Ms Hanson later accused the PM and Senate leader Mathias Cormann of waking up with “white guilt”.

Since she was elected to the Senate in 2016, Ms Hanson has also been surrounded by controversy concerning her candidates.

Her staffer James Ashby was stripped of his parliamentary pass in February after a physical altercation with former One Nation senator Brian Burston.

Mr Burston later admitted to smearing blood on Ms Hanson’s office door.

Senator Brian Burston and One Nation adviser James Ashby came to blows.

Blood smeared on the door of Pauline Hanson's office.

It followed claims that Mr Burston told a female staffer he would “f*** her” to improve her mood, which he denies saying. More recently he suggested Ms Hanson had sexually harassed him, something she has rejected, saying she’s “not that desperate”.

Mr Burston’s antics are the latest headache for Ms Hanson, whose party has disintegrated since she made her triumphant return to parliament in 2016 with a four-seat voting bloc.

Mr Burston resigned from One Nation in June last year, meaning all three of the senators who were elected with her have resigned from the party or were kicked out of parliament.

She has managed to regain one of the senate spots but only because Rod Culleton, who resigned from One Nation in 2016, was later disqualified because he had been convicted of stealing a key from a tow truck driver.

His brother-in-law Peter Georgiou is now sitting in his place as a One Nation senator.

Another senator, Malcolm Roberts, was disqualified due to being a dual citizen and he was replaced by Fraser Anning, who sensationally quit the party on his first day in parliament. Mr Anning joined Bob Katter’s party where he made headlines for his “final solution” speech. He was later dumped and has now started his own party.

Pauline Hanson with staffer James Ashby. Picture: Picture: Josh Woning/AAP

WHAT ARE ONE NATION’S KEY POLICIES?

● Climate change: Does not believe in human-induced climate change and wants Australia to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

● Energy: Wants to build a new low-emission coal-fired power station and to restore Australia’s 90-day fuel security policy.

● Asylum seekers: Wants to remove Australia from the UN Refugee Convention and to reduce the 20,000 refugees it accepts every year. It supports the ban on resettlement for those who arrive by boat.

● Immigration: Wants to lower the country’s permanent immigration target from about 250,000 a year to about 70,000. Supports locating migrants in regional centres where work is available.

● Travel ban: Wants a Trump-style ban on travel and migration from known extremist countries.

● Baby formula: Wants to limit the export of Australian formula to manufacturers who hold a licence.

● Identity card: For those who want to access taxpayer-funded services to stop rorting.

● Age pension: Supports an increase of $150 per fortnight for couples.

● Environment: Wants to build more dams.

● Tax reform: Wants to ensure foreign-owned multinational companies pay their fair share by taking them out of the corporate tax system and placing them in a new “transaction based system” appropriate to their industry. For example, tax would be charged on the value of gas taken at the wellhead using meters.

● Drug reform: Build new rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts and introduce life sentences for drug traffickers. Empower parents, with a judge’s consent, to send drug addicted children (regardless of age) for treatment.

● Privatisation: Opposes privatisation of water and universities.

● Mining: Opposes mining and coal seam gas exploration where it would have a negative impact on the environment and water table, and on prime agricultural land.

● Superannuation: Does not support changes.

● Aussie ownership: Does not believe in foreign ownership of Australian land and assets.

● University assistance: University students should be assessed on their needs and not according to their parents’ income and assets.

● Medical cannabis: Supports use to treat disease or alleviate symptoms.