Questions raised after One Nation leader nowhere to be seen today

The One Nation leader was nowhere to be seen today as voters flocked to the polls, with political watchers wanting her to please explain.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has shunned tradition by failing to show up at polling booths on election day.

The surprise move has been noticed by voters who are accustomed to having pollies make high-profile appearances and press the flesh a final time on the big day.

But while the controversial Senator was active on Facebook this morning — thanking volunteers, and encouraging voters to back One Nation — she did not make any public appearances.

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Earlier this evening, ABC reporter Allyson Horn revealed how her attempts to track down the firebrand figure had been unsuccessful.

“I can’t say definitively if she has been anywhere, but for all our attempts to find her and putting the call out around the state to find her, no one has been able to see her or speak to her today,” she said.

The location of the party’s election celebration has also not been revealed.

Ms Hanson’s surprise move comes as support for One Nation plummets, with polling revealing support for the right-wing party has plunged by almost half over the course of the election campaign amid ongoing scandals and candidate controversies.

So far, the party hasn’t won a single seat.

However, One Nation seems to be polling quite well in Queensland, despite Pauline Hanson doing almost no campaigning.

Nationally, projections show that, so far, it has received 192,630 votes, which is 2.7 per cent of the overall results and an increase of 1.5 per cent from the last election.

It is averaging around 7.5 per cent of the votes in the seats it is contesting and, in the senate, Malcolm Roberts is on track to earn himself a seat, respresenting Queensland.

#PaulineHanson does seem to have had a low profile today - maybe she's been wearing the burka again?!#auspol #AusVotes #qldpol

— 💧Paul Vittles FMRS FAMI FRSA (@vittlesorg) May 18, 2019

Just weeks ago, Ms Hanson made an emotional appearance on the Nine Network’s A Current Affair, crying on national television after being grilled by host Tracy Grimshaw over her party’s involvement with America’s powerful gun lobby the NRA.

The interview aired after One Nation’s James Ashby and Steve Dickson were caught on film seeking donations from the controversial group in an effort to change Australia’s gun laws.

The Al Jazeera expose also included sleazy footage of Queensland leader Steve Dickson visiting a strip club.

Where is Pauline hiding? Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

The married 56-year-old resigned — less than three weeks away from the election — after the secret video of him groping an exotic dancer and making lewd and offensive comments was aired.

It also showed Mr Dickson appear to repeatedly grope a stripper’s breasts, and place one-dollar notes inside her G-string.

In the wake of the scandal, Ms Hanson claimed she had been continually “let down” by the men of her party, and that One Nation was put under greater scrutiny than other parties.

One Nation party official Steve Dickson was filmed in a strip club in America fondling and giving money to one of the strippers. Picture: Channel 9

“I cop all this s**t all the time and I’m sick of it, absolutely sick of it,” an angry Ms Hanson said through tears.

“Kevin Rudd, he goes to a strip club, you’ve got Craig Thomson who used the credit card of the unions in a brothel, you’ve had corruption, you’ve had Eddie Obeid, you’ve had paedophiles, you’ve had everything but they just sail through it.”

Where's Pauline Hanson hiding? The One Nation leader hasn’t been spotted today, defying tradition for political hopefuls to show up at polling booths to press the flesh a final time. Follow our LIVE coverage here: https://t.co/yBV2O0jurW#Auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/VVdYJSlOI5

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) May 18, 2019

Ms Hanson has been abandoned by a string of high-profile men in the past, including One Nation co-founder David Oldfield, who was booted out of the party in 2000, Fraser Anning and Brian Burston.

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