One Nation leader Pauline Hanson painted ex-senator Brian Burston as a ‘pervert’, court told

A former One Nation senator wiped away tears as he told a court of his trauma after Pauline Hanson made false allegations that he sexually harassed staffers.

Former senator Brian Burston choked back tears has told a court that Pauline Hanson harassed him to the point it “became untenable” and claims she is painting him “as a pervert” following a public breakdown of their relationship.

Mr Burston faced the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday for the start of his defamation proceedings against Ms Hanson after the One Nation leader booted him out of the party in 2018.

He claims Ms Hanson made false allegations of sexual harassment against him on social media, on television and in a text to his wife, Rosalyn.

Mr Burston, who quit One Nation following the public spat to join the United Australia Party, claims Ms Hanson’s allegations made him out to be a “pervert” and brought the Senate into disrepute.

Bruce McClintock SC, representing Mr Burston, told the court there were three matters his client was concerned about.

Former One Nation senator Brian Burston is suing Pauline Hanson for defamation. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard.

Mr McClintock said Ms Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby first launched “public warfare” during interviews and a series of social media posts.

The first matter was a Facebook post from February 2019 that was allegedly written by Mr Ashby and referred to an anonymous senator who was being “investigated for sexual harassment”.

The second matter, according to Mr McClintock, was a text sent to Mr Burston’s wife on Valentine’s Day, the day after a dinner at Parliament House where the former senator got into an altercation with Mr Ashby.

Mr Burston took to the witness stand on Monday and told the court that he noticed Mr Ashby following him and filming him while saying “what do you think of the sexual harassment charges?”

“I said to him ‘get the phone out of my face’ and he was laughing at me,” Mr Burston said.

The former senator told the court that he tried to snatch the phone out of Mr Ashby’s hand and slide it along the marble floor so he could “get out of there”.

He told the court Mr Ashby picked up his phone and began filming Mr Burston’s wife, prompting the former senator to “react very quickly” by running towards him and pushing him away.

Mr Burston says he feels ‘traumatised’ that Pauline Hanson made allegations that he sexually harassed staffers. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I moved very quickly towards Ashby to protect my wife, I pushed his chest with my right hand,” Mr Burston said.

In the text sent to Mr Burston’s wife, the court was told that Ms Hanson said Mr Burston was “being investigated for sexual harassment” and he considered his wife to be “nothing but a whingeing old bag”.

“I have nothing to gain but I think I deserve to be treated with respect, this is the man who said he would never hurt me and he is doing this because I said I couldn’t endorse him for another six years,” the text continued.

Mr McClintock told the court the text was “mean and spiteful” and traumatised his client, as it was “about the worst thing you can say about a man short of actual paedophilia”.

The third matter of complaint involves an “out of the blue” interview with Ms Hanson on Channel 9 with Deborah Knight.

Mr Burston had a falling out with Ms Hanson. Picture NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

However, their relationship quickly turned sour during his time as a senator in 2018 when One Nation senators agreed to sign off on tax cut legislation but Ms Hanson changed her mind.

“I considered the agreement binding because I shook hands,” Mr Burston told the court.

The former senator told the court that he learned of Ms Hanson’s change of attitude towards the legislation from a front-page newspaper article.

Following the fallout, Mr Burston said Ms Hanson removed him from his role as One Nation Senate whip and began to treat him “badly”.

“She was harassing me, generally treating me badly … made me uncomfortable in my position and it became untenable,” he told the court.

Mr Burston said he was made uncomfortable by Ms Hanson’s sexual harassment allegations.

He told the court that he didn’t like that he was “made out to be a pervert”.

“I was mortified someone would suggest I was a sexual predator … it was traumatising, it isn’t true,” Mr Burston said.

The trial continues before Justice Robert Bromwich.