Rod Culleton aide claims James Ashby threw phone

Pauline Hanson says adviser James Ashby threw his mobile phone at Rod Culleton’s chief of staff in ‘underarm throw’.

James Ashby with Pauline Hanson on election night. Picture: Liam Kidston

Pauline Hanson has downplayed allegations that her adviser James Ashby threw his phone at fellow One Nation Senator Rod Culleton’s Chief of Staff, saying it was an underarm throw which has been “blown out of proportion”.

Mr Ashby is accused of having walked into Senator Culleton’s Parliament House office last Wednesday morning and arguing with his chief-of-staff Margaret Menzel over a proposed Facebook livestream.

“That is completely blown out of proportion,” Senator Hanson told the Seven Network this morning.

“He is accused of something. He was underhand throwing. It was completely blown out of proportion,” she said.

“It was an underhand throw. That is the news of the day, heaven help us, how my advisor threw his phone underhanded.

“How pathetic it is, if you want to talk about something else, but if this is more important to the nation, go ahead.”

James Ashby threw phone

Pauline Hanson’s high-profile ­adviser James Ashby has been ­accused of “losing the plot” and throwing his mobile phone at senator Rod Culleton’s chief of staff.

In another sign of One Nation’s escalating tensions just four months after the election, Mr Ashby, who Senator Hanson has jokingly described as her “adopted son”, is said to have walked into Senator Culleton’s Parliament House office last Wednesday morning and argued with his chief of staff Margaret Menzel over a proposed Facebook livestream.

Ms Menzel told The Australian she had asked Mr Ashby to set out his proposal in writing.

According to Ms Menzel, the ensuing argument became personal and repetitive, until Mr Ashby “completely lost the plot” and threw the phone in her direction.

Ms Menzel was not hit by the phone. “My reflexes are pretty good for an old chick,” she said.

The incident, which was allegedly watched by two of Senator Culleton’s other staff but not the senator himself — has been reported to parliamentary officials.

The incident came after Senator Hanson’s apparent abandonment earlier in the week of Senator Culleton, who is facing High Court action over the eligibility of his election.

Ms Menzel said she feared the phone incident was a sign that One Nation’s promise to be different from the big political parties was proving hollow.

Mr Ashby did not respond to The Australian last night.

Two days before the alleged ­incident with Ms Menzel, Mr Ashby had intervened in One ­Nation senator Malcolm Roberts’s press conference when journalists asked questions about Senator Culleton, who is said to be under pressure to quit on the grounds he is discrediting the party.

In both the Senate and on Sky News’s The Bolt Report last ­Monday, Ms Hanson said Senator Culleton should face the High Court.

He would “not be too happy” with her for saying so, Senator Hanson added.

Ms Menzel said problems within the party had been escalating for some time. Senator Culleton, Ms Menzel said, had lacked support and had been treated “abominably”.

“The greatest endorsement is that every single party decided he was a threat because he’s determined to tell the truth,” Ms Menzel said. “And if I’ve got to cop my bit of stick because of it, so be it.

“He’s not going anywhere without doing everything we can do to ensure that he sees through every promise he’s made to everybody across the nation, particularly in Western Australia.”

Ms Menzel emphasised relations were good between Senator Culleton’s office and One Nation colleagues Malcolm Roberts and Brian Burston.