Pauline Hanson misses Anning censure motion to have surgery
The One Nation leader was absent from the Fraser Anning censure debate because of a health scare.
Pauline Hanson was absent from today’s censure debate against her former One Nation colleague Fraser Anning because she had her appendix removed, the One Nation leader has revealed.
“Over the weekend I felt extraordinarily unwell. At first, I thought it was a case of food poisoning so I just took it easy,” she posted on Facebook.
“I woke yesterday morning to continued pains in my stomach and decided to see a GP. I was told I needed further scans and blood tests and was taken immediately to the hospital.
“Surgeons determined I needed an emergency operation to remove my appendix.
“Compared to the pain I was in before the surgery, today’s pain is a lot less and I plan on being back on my feet tomorrow.”
Earlier in the Senate, One Nation’s Peter Georgiou read a speech on behalf of Senator Hanson, saying they would abstain from the “public flogging” of the Anning censure motion.
An attempt by the Green’s to suspend far-right Senator Anning from the Senate failed 40 votes to 10. The government and opposition united to condemn Senator Anning, after he repeated comments in the chamber linking the Christchurch terror attacks to Muslim immigration in response to a censure motion against him.
The Senate noted that Mr Anning’s “inflammatory and divisive comments” did not reflect the “opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people”.
While Senator Anning won just 19 below-the-line votes at the 2016 election, 250,000 Queenslanders supported the One Nation ticket he was on. After a falling out with Senator Hanson and later Bob Katter, he split with their parties to sit on the crossbench.
It has been a tough fortnight for Senator Hanson.
She was bitten by a tick on her face last week. Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison ordered One Nation to be put below Labor on Liberal how-to-vote cards.
It came after One Nation was rocked by revelations Senator Hanson questioned whether the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy during an undercover investigation by Qatari TV network Al Jazeera.
Hidden camera footage also showed Senator Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby and One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson talking about getting $20 million in donations from the US gun lobby.
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