Pauline Hanson’s lonely election day in Covid isolation

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson didn’t join the conga line of politicians at polling places today, though she did have an ironclad excuse.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has endured a lonely election day in the aftermath of her Covid diagnosis, as she remains in self-isolation.

Ms Hanson, who has not been vaccinated against Covid, revealed her infection on Sydney radio on Thursday.

“I’m up the s***, I’ve got Covid,” she told The Kyle and Jackie Show, in the middle of an inconveniently timed coughing fit.

“I travelled to five states around Australia campaigning, but I go to the most locked down state last week and I got it and came home,” she added, referring to Western Australia.

“I’m not getting vaccinated, I haven’t been in hospital, I’m fine, I’m alive. It’s like I’ve had a heavy cold.

“It’s been disappointing.”

A spokesman from her office said Ms Hanson was “not especially sick” and was suffering symptoms “like the flu”.

She tested positive last Saturday. Under Queensland’s rules, she has to isolate for a minimum of seven days – meaning she was still stuck in isolation for election day and could not attend any polling booths.

Ms Hanson has thus far limited her activity on the day to a single tweet and Facebook post urging supporters to vote for One Nation, along with a handful of retweets sharing praise for herself.

Vote One Nation!

Find your candidate: https://t.co/0rE4awmaDh

Thank you for your support! pic.twitter.com/ZRMyGUkZC1

— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) May 20, 2022

Follow our live coverage as Australia decides if Scott Morrison or Anthony Albanese will be our Prime Minister

“This is the woman that can Make Australia Great Again!” said one of the retweeted supporters, alluding to former US president Donald Trump’s slogan.

“Watch the attitude of major party career politicians change tomorrow when votes don’t matter again for three more years. Watch how Pauline Hanson is exactly the same woman tomorrow as she has always been. There’s the difference,” said another.

“Pauline Hanson is always a winner in my eyes. She’s done more for this country in two years than most politicians do in a lifetime,” said another.

One Nation pledged to run candidates in all 151 seats for this election, a move Ms Hanson described as a “significant step up”. It only contested about a third of seats last time.

The reality hasn’t quite lived up to that promise. During the campaign it emerged that multiple One Nation candidates were listed as running in seats on the other side of the country from where they actually lived (which is legal, if a touch farcical).

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has candidates in all 151 seats – though some of them live in completely different states. Picture: Brenton Edwards/NCA NewsWire

The party is up against a close rival in the form of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, whose newspaper ads you may have seen – they claim former Coalition Craig Kelly could become Australia’s next prime minister.

“This is not a two-horse race,” Mr Kelly told Sky News Australia this week.

“We’re a chance. It doesn’t matter how small a chance it is.”

The truth is it is a two-horse race, in terms of who will form government, and Mr Kelly will be hard-pressed to win his own seat, let alone become prime minister. But the number of UAP volunteers at pre-poll locations was striking this past week.

In the booths I visited while following the Albanese campaign, generally outnumbered those representing One Nation.

That said, the final Newspoll of the campaign showed One Nation polling at 5 per cent nationally, higher than the UAP’s 3 per cent.

Ms Hanson is not the only party leader to have been sidelined by Covid during the campaign – Labor leader Anthony Albanese suffered the same fate a few weeks ago.

Unlike Mr Albanese, however, she has remained stubbornly unvaccinated.

“I’ll tell you honestly. I haven’t had the jab, I don’t intend to have the jab,” Ms Hanson told Queensland business leaders in December.

“I’m not putting that s*** into my body.”

The One Nation leader obviously did not have Covid three years ago, though she wasn’t spotted at any polling places that time either.