101 Facts About Pauline Hanson

Pauline Lee Hanson is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party.

Pauline Hanson ran a fish and chip shop before entering politics in 1994 as a member of Ipswich City Council in her home state.

Pauline Hanson joined the Liberal Party of Australia in 1995 and was preselected for the Division of Oxley in Brisbane at the 1996 federal election.

Pauline Hanson was disendorsed shortly before the election after making contentious comments about Aboriginal Australians, but remained listed as a Liberal on the ballot paper.

Pauline Hanson won the election and took her seat as an independent, before co-founding One Nation in 1997 and becoming its only MP.

Pauline Hanson attempted to switch to the Division of Blair at the 1998 federal election but was unsuccessful.

Pauline Hanson spent 11 weeks in jail prior to the appeal being heard.

Pauline Hanson was narrowly defeated at the 2015 Queensland state election, but was elected to the Senate at the 2016 federal election, along with three other members of the party.

Pauline Hanson was the fifth of seven children to John Alfred "Jack" Seccombe and Hannorah Alousius Mary "Norah" Seccombe.

Pauline Hanson first received schooling at Buranda Girls' School, later attending Coorparoo State School in Coorparoo until she ended her education at age 15, shortly before her first marriage and pregnancy.

Pauline Hanson worked at Woolworths before working in the office administration of Taylors Elliotts Ltd, a subsidiary of Drug Houses of Australia, where she handled clerical bookkeeping and secretarial work.

In 1978, Hanson met Mark Hanson, a tradesman on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Pauline Hanson handled the administrative components of the company, similar to her work with Taylors Elliotts, while her husband dealt with practical labour.

Pauline Hanson moved back to Ipswich and worked as a barmaid at what was then Booval Bowls Club.

Pauline Hanson then bought a fish and chip shop with a new business partner Morrie Marsden.

Over time, Pauline Hanson acquired full control of the company, which was sold upon her election to Parliament in 1996.

Pauline Hanson held the seat for 11 months, before being removed in 1995 due to administrative changes.

However, Pauline Hanson received widespread media attention when, leading up to the election, she advocated the abolition of special government assistance for Aboriginal Australians, and she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party.

On election night, Pauline Hanson took a large lead on the first count and picked up enough Democrat preferences to defeat Scott on the sixth count.

Pauline Hanson's victory came amid Labor's near-meltdown in Queensland which saw it cut down to only two seats in the state.

Since Pauline Hanson had been disendorsed, she entered parliament as an independent.

On 10 September 1996, Pauline Hanson gave her maiden speech to the House of Representatives, which was widely reported in the media.

Pauline Hanson then asserted that Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians", and that these immigrants "have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate".

Pauline Hanson's speech was delivered uninterrupted by her fellow parliamentarians as it was the courtesy given to MPs delivering their maiden speeches.

Pauline Hanson knew her chances of holding the reconfigured Oxley were slim, especially after former Labor state premier Wayne Goss won preselection for the seat.

Pauline Hanson gained extensive media coverage during her campaign and once she took her seat in the House.

Pauline Hanson called for more accountable and effective administration of Indigenous affairs.

Pauline Hanson's supporters viewed her as an ordinary person who challenged 'political correctness' as a threat to Australia's identity.

However, the Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, refused to censure Pauline Hanson or speak critically about her, acknowledging that her views were shared by many Australians, commenting that he saw the expression of such views as evidence that the "pall of political correctness" had been lifted in Australia, and that Australians could now "speak a little more freely and a little more openly about what they feel".

Pauline Hanson immediately labelled Howard a "strong leader" and said Australians were now free to discuss issues without "fear of being branded as a bigot or racist".

At the next federal election on 10 November 2001, Pauline Hanson ran for a Queensland senate seat but narrowly failed.

Pauline Hanson accounted for her declining popularity by claiming that the Liberals under John Howard had stolen her policies.

In 2003, following her release from prison, Pauline Hanson unsuccessfully contested the New South Wales state election, running for a seat in the upper house.

In January 2004, Pauline Hanson announced that she did not intend to return to politics.

Pauline Hanson contested the electoral district of Beaudesert as an independent at the 2009 Queensland state election.

On 23 July 2010, while at an event promoting her new career as a motivational speaker, Pauline Hanson expressed interest in returning to the political stage as a Liberal candidate if an invitation were to be offered by the leader Tony Abbott in the 2010 federal election.

In March 2011, Pauline Hanson ran as an independent candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Council in the 2011 state election, but was not elected, receiving 2.41 percent of the primary statewide vote but losing on preferences.

Pauline Hanson then commenced legal proceedings to challenge the outcome of the election in the NSW Supreme Court, which sat as the Court of Disputed Returns.

Pauline Hanson resigned from One Nation in January 2002 and John Fischer, the State Leader from Western Australia, was elected the Federal President of One Nation.

On 24 May 2007, Hanson launched Pauline's United Australia Party.

Under that banner, Pauline Hanson again contested one of Queensland's seats in the Senate in the 2007 federal election, when she received over 4 percent of total votes.

When considering moving, Pauline Hanson said that she would not sell her house to Muslims.

In 2013, Pauline Hanson announced that she would stand in the 2013 federal election.

Pauline Hanson rejoined the One Nation party and was a Senate candidate in New South Wales.

In November 2014, Pauline Hanson announced that she had returned as One Nation leader, prior to the party's announcement, following support from One Nation party members.

Pauline Hanson announced that she would contest the seat of Lockyer in the 2015 Queensland state election.

In February 2015, Pauline Hanson lost the seat by a narrow margin.

In mid-2015, Pauline Hanson announced that she would contest the Senate for Queensland at the 2016 federal election, and announced the endorsement of several other candidates throughout Australia.

Pauline Hanson campaigned on a tour she called "Fed Up" in 2015, and spoke at a Reclaim Australia rally.

Pauline Hanson secured a spot on the National Broadband Network parliamentary committee.

On 17 August 2017, Pauline Hanson received criticism after wearing a burqa, which she claims "oppresses women", into the Senate.

On 22 March 2018, Pauline Hanson announced that One Nation would back the Turnbull government's corporate tax cuts.

Pauline Hanson subsequently reversed her position, citing the failure of the government to cut immigration levels and support coal-fired power.

On 15 October 2018, Pauline Hanson proposed an "It's OK to be white" motion in the Australian Senate intended to acknowledge the "deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilization".

Pauline Hanson proposed a parliament motion advocating opposition to the proposed Great Reset of the World Economic Forum, on the belief that it is cover for creating a New World Order.

Pauline Hanson's proposal was defeated by 37 votes to 2.

In 2019, Pauline Hanson campaigned against a ban on climbing Uluru, a sacred site for local Aboriginal people.

Pauline Hanson was removed from the role in July 2020 after describing people who lived in Melbourne public housing as drug addicts who couldn't speak English.

Pauline Hanson later stated that her opposition was to a motion that the Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Islander flag, which are both official flags of Australia, should be raised inside the Senate chamber alongside the Australian flag.

In 2023, Pauline Hanson criticised NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham tweet in response to fellow politician Alex Greenwich, who is openly gay and called for him to apologise.

In 1998, the resurgence of popularity of Pauline Hanson was met with disappointment in Asian media.

In 2004, Pauline Hanson appeared on the nationally televised ABC interview show Enough Rope, where her views were challenged.

Pauline Hanson is opposed to same-sex marriage and voted against it in the Senate.

Pauline Hanson criticised the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.

In 2006, Pauline Hanson stated that African immigrants were bringing diseases into Australia and were of "no benefit to this country whatsoever".

In 2007, Pauline Hanson publicly backed Kevin Andrews, then Minister for Immigration under John Howard, in his views about African migrants and crime.

In 2015, Pauline Hanson claimed that Halal certification in Australia was funding terrorism.

Pauline Hanson has called for a moratorium on accepting Muslim immigrants into Australia.

On 22 June 2017, Pauline Hanson moved a motion in the Australian Senate calling on the government to respond to the Halal inquiry.

On 17 August 2017, Pauline Hanson wore a burqa onto the floor of the Australian Senate in a move to rally support for a national ban of the religious attire, citing "national security" concerns.

Subsequently, Faruqi decided to launch court proceedings against Pauline Hanson for "breaching section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975".

On 1 November 2024, it was reported that Federal Court of Australia judge Angus Stewart had ruled that Pauline Hanson's tweet was an "angry personal attack", unconnected with the issues Faruqi raised, and was therefore "anti-Muslim or Islamophobic".

Pauline Hanson was ordered to delete the tweet and was awarded costs for the entire proceedings.

In 1998, social commentator Keith Suter argued that Pauline Hanson's views were better understood as an angry response to globalisation.

Pauline Hanson did not relent in articulating her views and continued to address public meetings around Australia.

Pauline Hanson purchased an investment property in Maitland, New South Wales, in 2012, selling it in 2023.

Pauline Hanson was under escort almost completely, and while her younger children were largely kept out of public exposure, they were escorted to and from school and on other activities.

The mail received at Pauline Hanson's office was moved to another location and checked before it was re-distributed back to the office.

In 1971, Hanson married Walter Zagorski, a former field representative and mining industry labourer from Poland, who had escaped war-torn Europe with his mother and arrived in Australia as refugees.

Pauline Hanson met Hanson when they both worked for the Drug Houses of Australia subsidiary Taylors Elliots Ltd.

In 1975, Pauline Hanson left Zagorski after discovering that he had been involved in several extramarital affairs.

In 1980, Hanson married Mark Hanson, a divorced tradesman working on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Together they established a trades and construction business, in which Pauline Hanson was in charge of the administrative and bookkeeping work, and would on occasions assist her husband on more practical work.

Pauline Hanson has written about her difficult marriage, where alcohol and domestic violence impacted her family.

In 1988, Pauline Hanson began a relationship with Morrie Marsden, a businessman in Queensland.

Marsden worked on Pauline Hanson's campaign for political office in the seat of Oxley in 1996, and was a member of her staff after her election.

When Pauline Hanson began to receive national and international media attention for her views, Marsden left the relationship.

Pauline Hanson had begun a relationship with Ipswich man Rick Gluyas in 1994.

In 2005, Pauline Hanson began a relationship with Chris Callaghan, a country music singer and political activist.

Pauline Hanson wrote and composed the song "The Australian Way of Life", which was used in Hanson's 2007 campaign for the Australian Senate, under her new United Australia Party.

In 2007, Pauline Hanson revealed that she and Callaghan were engaged.

In 2011, while campaigning for the New South Wales Legislative Council, Pauline Hanson began a relationship with property developer and real estate agent Tony Nyquist.

The prime minister, John Howard, said that it was "a very long, unconditional sentence" and Bronwyn Bishop said that Pauline Hanson was a political prisoner, comparing her conviction with Robert Mugabe's treatment of Zimbabwean opponents.

Pauline Hanson, having spent 11 weeks in jail, was immediately released along with Ettridge.

In 2004, Pauline Hanson appeared in multiple television programs such as Dancing with the Stars, Enough Rope, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and This is Your Life.

Burston claimed that Pauline Hanson "rubbed her fingers up my spine" in an incident that occurred in 1998, and propositioned him after he was elected in 2016.

In court it arose Pauline Hanson sent a "malicious" text message to Burston's wife claiming he was infatuated with another staff member.

Pauline Hanson told the media that the reason for these claims of cannibalism was to "demonstrate the savagery of Aboriginal society".

Pauline Hanson asserted that "the suggestion that we should be feeling some concern for modern day Aborigines for suffering in the past is balanced a bit by the alternative view of whether you can feel sympathy for people who eat their babies".

In 2004, Pauline Hanson said that the book was "written by some other people who actually put my name to it" and that, while she held the copyright in the book, she was unaware that much of the material was being published under her name.

In March 2007, Pauline Hanson published her autobiography, Untamed and Unashamed.