‘Pauline has been a warrior’: George Christensen joins One Nation after quitting LNP

Days after he resigned from the LNP, Queensland MP George Christensen has announced he will run as a candidate for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, and has denied he is doing it for the money.

In a fiery press conference in Brisbane on Wednesday morning, Hanson announced Christensen would be third on party’s Senate ticket under candidate Raj Guruswamy, a former Adani senior executive.

“He is a fighter for Queensland. I’m proud to say that George has now joined my One Nation team,” she said.

Christensen resigned from the LNP last week, claiming the party had abandoned its conservative roots.

He had previously said he would not recontest his Mackay-based seat of Dawson.

Christensen was asked whether he was making the move for the $105,000 resettlement allowance given to politicians when they lose their seat.

“No,” he replied.

George Christensen looks on as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson announces his Senate candidacy for the party at the 2022 election.Credit: Matt Dennien

“If the only job that I do is helping Pauline get back in there in the Senate and maybe bringing a friend along with her in Raj Guruswamy, then that’s the job done,” he said.

“Because Pauline has been a warrior for commonsense conservative issues.

“I think that with the likely prospect of an incoming Anthony Albanese [Labor] government, which we’re seeing all the polls showing, that we need people like Pauline in the Senate ... to stop bad laws and bad policies from affecting everyday Australians.”

Christensen said he was not concerned about former colleagues in the LNP leaking about him, or any “dirt file” being released.

The party’s other Queensland senator, Malcolm Roberts, stepped in to defend Christensen, claiming he had high integrity and did not need to fear smears from former colleagues.

Hanson questioned why any “dirt file” would be released only once Christensen became a candidate for One Nation, after he had already been in parliament.

Christensen was also asked about his previous trips to the Philippines, which were the subject of a now closed Australian Federal Police probe.

He had previously made secret submissions to the information watchdog as part of an effort to stop the release of details about the investigation into his frequent trips, saying a police letter falsely accused him of a serious crime.

“Wasn’t that question answered? That has been dealt with,” Hanson said.

“It was found in the senate inquiry there was nothing guilty done by George Christensen, so that was cleared in the senate inquiry by the commissioner himself.”

The AFP took no action against Christensen.

Christensen told reporters and his new One Nation colleagues it was “really old news, going back years and years now”.

“I was reelected to parliament after the emergence of all this and the Australian Federal Police said I did nothing wrong.”

Roberts again defended Christensen, asking when journalists were going to “ask other MPs about what they do with their wives”.

“There’s nothing different about this man. He’s entitled to a personal life, as am I, as is my wife, and as is his wife. It is disgraceful what you’re [a journalist] saying,” he said.

Hanson said she had not considered Christensen as a potential future leader for the party, adding that she still had several years left in politics.

She said she would not move Guruswamy from second on the ticket because of “loyalty”, adding that she had asked him to run last year.