Ten key moments from Pauline Hanson’s first press club appearance

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called a journalist “trashy”, said there are too many abortions in Australia, and even swung behind AI red tape during her first appearance at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Here are the key moments from the senator’s speech and subsequent grilling by journalists.

A protest banner momentarily disrupted Hanson’s address

Pauline Hanson’s first-ever national press club speech was temporarily disrupted after a banner unfurled behind her on stage.

The banner stated: “I opposed a pay rise for workers.” There was also a footnote that said Hanson had taken a $100,000 pay rise for herself.

The banner was unfurled without obvious assistance from anyone in the club and temporarily threw Hanson off stride before she continued with her speech.

Press Club CEO Maurice Reilly had the sign quickly ripped down, and the club is investigating how the banner was smuggled in and unrolled.

Left-leaning activist group GetUp! has claimed responsibility for the banner.

One Nation doubled down on its opposition to wage rises

Hanson said that businesses were telling her that employees were lazy and too hard to sack.

“You need to look at the other side of the ledger. Can businesses afford and pay that? There has to be a balance,” Hanson said.

“Industrial relations, I can assure you, needs a complete overhaul because it’s not working. Businesses also tell me you can’t sack people these days, they’re on their phones, they don’t work, they don’t turn up, they actually are lazy, and businesses are tied to it. They’ve had enough, they want change.”

Hanson called a journalist ‘trashy’

Hanson attacked Guardian journalist Sarah Martin for asking about her daughter Lee Hanson’s position in the party.

Martin has written a string of stories about Hanson’s connections to mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and her use of taxpayer funds, and Hanson has been caught on camera calling Martin a “nasty bitch”.

“Taxpayers are paying more than $150,000 a year for your daughter, Lee Hanson, to seemingly campaign full-time in Tasmania while employed as a political adviser for a NSW senator. Did you have any role in appointing her to that position?” Martin asked.

“Honestly, you never give up,” Hanson replied. “I’ve never seen a person that’s such a trashy journalist, you know, and what you put out all the time, you’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party, or Mrs Rinehart.”

Hanson went on to say that her daughter got the job “on her own merits” thanks to her experience working in HR and at a Tasmanian university.

The senator may continue to ban certain media outlets

Press Club host Tom Connell asked whether Hanson would allow all media outlets to travel in a press pack with her during the next election campaign.

“I did tell you I was banning the ABC, and I’ve also banned The Guardian as well. As I said, I’m not going to be anyone’s football to kick around when you want to,” Hanson said.

“We got about one-and-a-half years before the campaign. Let’s see how it goes between now and then. If you want to keep bashing me around, I don’t forget, I’m like a bloody old elephant. I won’t forget.“

Hanson also repeated a past pledge to shut down SBS and turn the ABC into a subscription model.

“[The ABC] will still exist, but in a very different form,” the senator said.

However, she did give a shout-out to the public broadcaster’s rural and regional operations.

One Nation wants ‘monocultural’ Australia

Near the top of her speech, Hanson said Australia cannot be a multicultural society.

“We are a multiracial society, but we must be monocultural,” she said. “Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.”

The One Nation leader cited census figures, from 2021 and relating to one in four people speaking a language other than English at home, to back up her argument that Australia was “losing its identity”.

“How can you generate social cohesion if people can’t speak the language?” Hanson asked.

But at the 2021 census, just 3.4 per cent of people self-reported that they could not speak English well or at all – far below the quarter of the population who said they speak a language other than English at home.

Hanson said she would restrict immigration from countries “immersed in extremism like radical Islam”.

“While ever I lead this party, I will not walk away from my commitment to get rid of this social cancer.”

Hanson insisted climate change was a hoax

Hanson has made a number of inaccurate claims about climate change and renewable energy, while overlooking the costs of fossil fuel that she said is needed to boost national prosperity.

The One Nation leader railed against climate action and dismissed the “hoax of global warming”.

The United Nations science body, the IPCC, has stated that human-induced greenhouse emissions are the dominant cause of global warming, which is raising the atmospheric temperature and increasing extreme weather. Its findings are subject to more than 2000 independent scientific reviewers.

One Nation wants slow start for nuclear power

When the Nine Network’s political editor Charles Croucher asked Hanson about her support for nuclear power, the senator said the Coalition had made a mistake committing to seven upfront, giving its opponents an attack line on the estimated $600 billion cost.

“Start with one,” she said. “It all comes down to if you can afford it.”

Hanson thinks there are ‘too many abortions’

When SBS’ chief political correspondent Anna Henderson asked about her views on abortion, Hanson said the topic was a discussion that needed to be had with the Australian people.

“I’m not against, you know, people and circumstances, women that need to have an abortion for medical reasons, for some circumstance,” Hanson said.

“I’d rather educate women to use contraceptives than to go through an abortion, too many abortions in this country, anyway. I’m not advocating [a timeframe] at this stage, but I can tell you, even from 20 weeks, I think it’s too, too late to have an abortion. But definitely, you know, 39 weeks to have an abortion – that is clearly not humane.”

Hanson’s new recruit, Barnaby Joyce, appeared at a pro-life rally in Sydney earlier this month to demand tighter controls on abortion.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists defines late-term abortions as terminations after 20 weeks’ gestation, which only comprise about 1 per cent of abortions in Australia.

More detail on the late-term abortion debate can be found here.

Hanson says interest rates are heading towards 10 per cent

“Under this government, interest rates are heading towards 10 per cent,” Hanson said in her speech. “Young people can’t afford the deposit, let alone the mortgage repayments.“

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday kept interest rates on hold at 4.35 per cent, but governor Michele Bullock did say she would do “what is required” to bring inflation down, including the possibility of another rate hike later this year.

The last time the cash rate was 10% was June 1991. The country was still in recession, inflation had fallen from 7.7% to 3.4% over the past 12 months, the RBA was yet to start targeting inflation (which would come the following year) and unemployment had just climbed to 9.6%.

Hanson wants AI protections

The One Nation leader described artificial intelligence as the “greatest economic and technical change since the industrial revolution”.

“AI should not be left entirely to self-regulation. Public trust is essential for widespread adoption,” Hanson said.

“The Albanese government’s response to the coming of AI is largely to leave it in the hands of corporations with little regulation to ensure that the industry operates in the public interest. One Nation seeks a middle path; encourage AI adoption and its economic benefits while imposing enforceable safeguards.”

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