Election 2022: Rogue LNP MP George Christensen to run for One Nation

George Christensen ditches his plan to retire from ­parliament to run instead as a One Nation candidate, although it’s not clear if he will contest his former seat or a different electorate.

George Christensen will run as a One Nation candidate in the upcoming election. Picture: Daryl Wright

Rogue former Queensland LNP MP George Christensen has abandoned his plan to retire from ­parliament at the May 21 election and will run instead as a One ­Nation candidate.

Pauline Hanson’s spokesman, James Ashby, said on Tuesday night Mr Christensen’s decision to join One Nation would be announced at a press conference in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Although it was not certain whether Mr Christensen would contest his former seat of Dawson or try to win a different electorate, his popularity in north Queensland would give him a chance of securing a lower-house seat for Senator Hanson’s party.

One Nation has a candidate for Dawson in Julie Hill, so she would have to stand aside if he were to seek re-election there.

Mr Christensen told the ­Courier-Mail on Tuesday that he should have joined One ­Nation “a long time ago” after ­realising his beliefs matched those of Senator Hanson’s party.

He had resigned from the LNP last week, declaring it had betrayed its conservative roots. He opposed the Morrison government’s position on vaccine mandates and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Christensen announced last year he would resign from parliament at the next election but said he had changed his mind on retirement after an “enormous amount” of lobbying from people over the past two months.

“The more I queried One Nat­ion’s policies and looked at their constitution, their core beliefs, the things that Pauline has been campaigning on recently, just about everything aligned with my views,” he told the Courier-Mail.

Senator Hanson approached Mr Christensen late last year about joining One Nation. “I know it’s a sacrifice to him and his family … but I’m not going to apologise because I want good people standing beside me that are going to deliver for the ­Australian people,” she said on Tuesday.

Mr Christensen has been the MP for Dawson since 2010. He won his seat with a margin of 14.6 per cent in 2019 after securing a swing of 11.2 per cent on the back of strong preference flows from One Nation, Katter’s Australian Party and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party.

One Nation plans to run a candidate in all 151 seats in the federal election.

Senator Hanson, who is up for re-election in Queensland, is about to embark on a nationwide blitz to whip up support for Senate candidates. The ­national tour will ­exclude Western Australia, where Senator Hanson is unable to travel ­because she has not ­received a Covid-19 vaccination.

She said the party was aiming to win seats in all states and was buoyed by the likely win in March of a Senate seat in the South Australian Legislative Assembly.

The seats of Hunter in NSW and Blair and Capricornia in Queensland are on One ­Nation’s hit list and the party will preference MPs Senator Hanson sees as underperformers last.

Senator Hanson warned ­Anthony Albanese he could need her support to pass legislation if he were to win ­government.