‘I am sick of it’: Hanson says One Nation unfairly targeted over strip club scandal
Updated
A tearful Pauline Hanson says the strip club scandal involving former One Nation Senate candidate Steve Dickson has been used to attack her political party unfairly.
Key points:
- Pauline Hanson said she was “disgusted” by footage of former Senate hopeful Steve Dickson
- But the One Nation leader said her party was unfairly targeted in the sting
- Senator Hanson also questioned why she is “kicked in the guts” when people are “hoping and praying” she will be a “voice” for them
Mr Dickson on Tuesday withdrew from the election campaign after undercover footage emerged of him making derogatory comments and touching a dancer during a night out at a strip club in Washington DC last year.
The former Senate hopeful also apologised for his behaviour, saying the footage “does not reflect the person I am”.
The video was filmed as part of the same operation which last month revealed Mr Dickson and party adviser James Ashby travelled to the US last year seeking campaign help from lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).
In the wake of the leaked footage, Senator Hanson told Channel Nine’s A Current Affair she believed her party was repeatedly targeted in a way that others were not.
While Senator Hanson said she was “disgusted” by the footage, the One Nation leader insisted the sting was “three years in the making to discredit One Nation and pull us down”.
“I am upset. I have worked with this for 23 years since I was elected to Parliament. I have had ups and downs. I am kicked in the guts time and time again,” she told host Tracey Grimshaw.
“It happens right before an election. They held this for seven months and released it now. I want to know, did Channel Nine pay for this? Al Jazeera said it did not give permission to film that.”
After Grimshaw confirmed the footage had been leaked to Channel Nine, Ms Hanson asked: “Why is everyone frightened of me and frightened of One Nation?
“The Liberal Party are preferencing us below the Labor Party. Why? We work with them so well. It happens every election.
“I do not know who is behind this. Someone is behind this. You cannot tell me why a foreign country is interested in Australian politics. This is a big question.”
She highlighted the difference in reaction to Mr Dickson’s visit compared with former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s 2003 visit to a New York strip club. According to the club’s boss, Mr Rudd behaved “like a gentleman”.
“Kevin Rudd, he goes to a strip club, you’ve got Craig Thomson who used the credit card of the unions in a brothel, you’ve had corruption, you’ve had Eddie Obeid … you’ve had everything but they just sail through it,” she said.
“No, let’s give Pauline Hanson a kick in the guts.”
NRA meetings ‘did not go through’ One Nation leader
The discussion then turned to last month’s Al Jazeera undercover investigation, which revealed One Nation’s efforts to solicit political donations from the NRA as the US gun lobby encouraged the party to weaken Australia’s strict gun ownership laws.
Senator Hanson took the opportunity to claim the leaked meetings between Mr Dickson, Mr Ashby and fake gun rights advocate Rodger Muller were not carried out with her approval.
“I did not know they were going over there and I did not know they would say these things. I am devastated with what has occurred there. I am furious about this,” she said.
“At the end of the day I am the leader of this political party. I do not care what Steve Dickson says. I am the leader.
“Would I take a foreign donation from the NRA? No. I had a company offer me $50,000. I did not take it. We never take foreign donations … I am sick of it. Absolutely sick of it.”
Hanson to ride out strip club storm
As the interview reached its end, Senator Hanson admitted One Nation was not unique in facing negative press coverage ahead of the federal election.
“We’re not the only party having problems with candidates. All major parties do. But you have to have honesty and fight to carry through and stand beside me for what I want to do,” she said.
Referring to those remaining on her ticket, Ms Hanson said: “I think I have a great line-up. There are some great Lower House candidates standing in this election.”
When asked why she wished to remain in politics, Ms Hanson said there was “still a lot” she wanted to do.
“There is so much poverty out there, and people that are hurting,” she said.
“And at the end of the day, these politicians and members of Parliament, with major political parties, they do not care about the people.
“It is all about the unions, it is about multinationals, it is about business, and the people do not know who to turn to and who they trust or believe in.”
Hours ahead of Ms Hanson’s comments on the One Nation line-up, reports surfaced claiming the party’s candidate for Leichhardt, Ross Macdonald, had shared a number of images of himself posing with topless women on social media.
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