Source : Perth Now news
One Nation has been chastised for handing out a colouring book to children depicting Bluey being held at knifepoint, amid broader concerns about the party’s cartoons.
But Pauline Hanson declined to say if the colouring books were appropriate.
The colouring books were given away at One Nation’s booth at the South Australian Mount Gambier show on the weekend. They feature caricatures from Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain cartoon series.
In one picture, a crocodile with a knife robs what appears to be Robert Irwin and beloved cartoon Bluey, while a drawn lookalike of treasurer Jim Chalmers stands in the background smiling.
Other images show Energy Minister Chris Bowen as a cyborg, and various politicians marooned on a raft.
Senator Hanson has been under fire in recent months for her cartoon series on YouTube, which regularly depicts politicians in unflattering or dangerous situations.
She refused to answer media questions on Wednesday about whether she would consider taking down the cartoons, and whether the colouring book was an appropriate use of party funds.
“I’m not here to talk about the cartoons at the moment,” she said, on the back of a policy announcement.
“I’ve got other questions about what is important to me and the Australian people at the moment.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells said One Nation needed to explain the reasoning behind the material.
“It’s certainly not something that I would produce or that I would ever ask my team to produce,” Ms Wells told ABC Radio.
“The people that are making this cartoon should explain why this errs on the side of satire and not something more.”
It comes as the ABC will send a cease-and-desist letter to the right-wing party over Bluey being used in a cartoon that depicts the character repeatedly ramming politicians with a car.
The video was made in 2024, well before the shocking alleged attack on Indi MP Helen Haines last week.
ABC’s managing director Hugh Marks told Senate estimates on Tuesday it was a clear breach of intellectual property, which Senator Hanson denied.
“We will be taking further action, I can assure you,” he said.
When asked if the use of Bluey constituted an intellectual property breach, Senator Hanson said “no”.
Cartoon creator Mark Nicholson, the co-founder of Stepmates Studios, which produces the cartoons, has refused to apologise for the episode, which he said was satire.
“We’re just trying to do the best thing for the country,” he told ABC’s 7:30 on Monday.
“(It is my job) to pick on people who are in the public realm,” Mr Nicholson, who is running for One Nation in Victoria’s upper house, said.
