Pauline Hanson's One Nation

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson

Shortly after being elected to federal parliament, Hanson formed the One Nation party with co-founders David Oldfield and David Ettridge. During the formative days of One Nation, Oldfield was employed Liberal Party backbench MP Tony Abbott as a political advisor.[3] One Nation was launched on 11 April 1997, at an event held in Ipswich, Queensland.[7] The party was officially registered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 27 June.[8]

Percentage of first preference votes for One Nation in each electorate.

The 1998 Queensland state election produced One Nation's greatest electoral success with the ALP winning 44 seats to be the largest party in the Assembly, the Coalition winning 32 seats and One Nation winning 11 seats. During the campaign polling for One Nation lead to commentators saying One Nation might secure the balance of power in a hung parliament.[9] During the campaign, all three major political parties suffered a decline in voter support due to One Nation having entered the fray. The National Party saw an 11.1% drop in support, their Liberal Party coalition partners lost 6.7% and Labor's vote dropped 4.0%.[9] To the surprise of many pundits, the One Nation Party received 22.7% of the first preference vote, giving them the second largest voter turnout for any party in Queensland during the 1998 election. One Nation drew the majority of its support from regional and rural Queensland, winning 9 of its 11 seats in rural and regional electorates.[9] Subsequently, the One Nation contingent in the Queensland Parliament split, with dissident members forming the rival City-Country Alliance in late 1999.[10]

At the 1998 federal election, Hanson contested the new seat of Blair after a redistribution effectively split Oxley in half. Hanson lost to Liberal candidate Cameron Thompson, and the One Nation candidate in Oxley lost the seat to ALP candidate Bernie Ripoll.[11] One Nation candidate Heather Hill was elected as a senator for Queensland. Hill's eligibility to sit as a senator was successfully challenged in Sue v Hill under the Australian Constitution on the basis that she had failed to renounce her childhood British citizenship, despite being a naturalised Australian citizen. The seat went to the party's Len Harris following a recount.[12]

Political scientists Ian McAllister and Clive Bean, in an analysis of the 1998 federal election, found that although it was assumed that One Nation supporters came from a traditionally conservative demographic, instead:

"in a number of significant respects it in fact tends more towards Labor's profile instead. One Nation support, for example, comes disproportionately from manual workers, trade union members, those who describe themselves as working class, the less well educated, men and people who never attend church – a list of characteristics which comes close to defining the archetypal Labor voter … [The evidence] suggests that it is Labor-style voters in rural areas – rather than the much more predominantly urban Labor voter – who are chiefly attracted to One Nation"[13]

Within a year of One Nation's electoral success, 3 of the 11 Queensland MPs elected had quit the party claiming the leadership had too much control over the party.[3]

The party was affected by internal divisions and has split several times. Lawsuits involving ex-members did eventually force Hanson to repay approximately $500,000 of public funding won at the 1998 Queensland election amid claims by Abbott that the party was fraudulently registered. Abbott established a trust fund called "Australians for Honest Politics Trust" to help bankroll civil court cases against the Party.[14] The suits alleged that the party was undemocratically constituted in order to concentrate all power in the hands of three people—Hanson, Ettridge and Oldfield (in particular Oldfield)—and that it technically had only two members: Ettridge and Hanson. Even though Hanson's fraud charges were dropped, the Electoral Commission of Queensland never reimbursed Hanson for the monies that they collected from the claim.[3]

The first Annual General Meeting of the One Nation party was held in April 1999, which critic Paul Reynolds said demonstrated that One Nation lacked organisation.[15]

At the 1999 New South Wales state election, David Oldfield was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. In October 2000, Hanson expelled Oldfield from the party after a disagreement.[3] His expulsion created even more instability in a party which was constantly embroiled in scandal and internal strife. Oldfield attacked Hanson publicly, saying that "everything including her maiden speech and every word of any consequence that she's said since, has actually been written for her".[3] Oldfield engineered a split within the party, creating One Nation NSW, in 2001.[3] The new party took advantage of electoral party registration laws to register itself as a political party under the 'One Nation' name with the NSW electoral commission, and achieved registration in April 2002.[3]

At the 2001 Western Australian state election One Nation won three seats in the state, however the party was reduced to three seats the same year at the 2001 Queensland state election. During the 2001 Australian federal election, the party's vote fell from 9% to 5.5%. Hanson failed in her bid to win a Senate seat from Queensland, despite polling a strong 10% of the primary vote. Hanson also failed to win a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council.[3]

In 2001, disendorsed One Nation candidate Terry Sharples accused the party of not having the 500 members needed for registration, and called for the party to be deregistered, which was carried by the Supreme Court. Hanson appealed the verdict but was unsuccessful.[16] Hanson appeared before the Brisbane Magistrates Court to face charges of electoral fraud, that same year. Hanson pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming that she was being subjected to "a political witch-hunt." While court hearings proceeded, Hanson ran for a seat in the NSW Upper House as an independent, but only received 1.9 per cent of the vote.[3]

Both Ettridge and Hanson were found guilty of fraudulently registering One Nation and obtaining more than $500,000 from the AEC, in 2003. Crown lawyers accused them both of falsely claiming more than 500 people were party members when they were not truly members. Hanson was sentenced to three years in jail, stating outside the court that the verdict was "Rubbish, I'm not guilty... it's a joke".[3]

It was later disclosed that Abbott had been working behind the scenes to take Ettridge and Hanson down, meeting with several disgruntled One Nation members including Sharples. November 6 that same year Hanson was released from prison after successfully appealing her conviction and being acquitted on all counts.[3]

At the 2004 Queensland state election, One Nation polled less than 5% of the vote and its sole elected representative, Rosa Lee Long, acted as an independent. One Nation attempted to defend its Queensland Senate seat at the 2004 federal election, but lost it (effectively to the National Party). Len Harris's Senate term expired on 30 June 2005.[17]

On 8 February 2005, One Nation lost federal party status but was re-registered in time for the 2007 federal election. It still had state parties in Queensland and New South Wales. Subsequently, it created another state party in Western Australia. In the February 2005 Western Australian state election, the One Nation vote collapsed.[3]

In the 2006 South Australian state election, six One Nation candidates stood for the lower house. Their highest levels of the primary vote was 4.1% in the district of Hammond and 2.7% in Goyder, with the other four hovering around 1%. They attracted 0.8% (7559 votes) of the upper house vote. One Nation consequently won no seats in that election.[3]

In the 2006 Queensland state election, the party contested four of 89 seats, and its vote collapsed. It suffered a swing of 4.3% to be left with just 0.6% of the vote. Its only remaining seat in the state (and country), Tablelands, was retained with an increased majority by Rosa Lee Long.[18] Tablelands was abolished prior to the 2009 Queensland state election, with Lee Long failing to win the seat of Dalrymple.

In the 2012 Queensland state election the party unsuccessfully contested six seats. The party received only 2,525 first preference votes (representing 0.1% of the total cast) across the state.[19]

Hanson rejoined One Nation as a rank-and-file member, in 2013. Later that year she unsuccessfully contested the Senate for New South Wales at the 2013 federal election. In 2014, Hanson was reappointed as leader by the One Nation executive.[20] She contested the seat of Lockyer for the party at the January 2015 Queensland state election, falling 114 votes short of defeating sitting Liberal National Party member Ian Rickuss.[21]

In July 2015, Hanson announced that the party was renamed the original "Pauline Hanson's One Nation" and contested in the Senate for Queensland at the 2016 federal election.[22]

In the lead up to the 2016 election, Hanson arranged a "Fed Up" tour that began in July 2015 as part of her re-election campaign, flying in a private plane to Rockhampton prior to a Reclaim Australia rally,[23] piloted by James Ashby.[24]

Pauline Hanson in a Jabiru J230 at Caboolture Airfield for the Caboolture Air Show. The aircraft has "Fed Up" slogan decals on the side (April 2016)

At the 2016 federal election the party polled 4.3% (+3.8) of the nationwide primary vote in the Senate. Only Queensland polled higher for the party than their nationwide percentage − the party polled 9.2% (+8.6) of the primary vote in that state. Pauline Hanson (QLD) and three other One Nation candidates − Malcolm Roberts (QLD), Brian Burston (NSW) and Rod Culleton (WA) were elected to the Senate.[25] Elected to the 3rd Queensland Senate spot, as per convention Hanson is serving a six-year term while the three other One Nation Senators who were elected in the last half of spots were appointed to three-year terms. Culleton was stripped of his seat in January 2017 after he was declared bankrupt. In March 2017, the High Court ruled that Culleton's election to the Senate was invalid in any event because of a criminal conviction in New South Wales. After a court-ordered recount, Culleton was replaced by the second candidate on the WA list, Peter Georgiou.[26]

Rod Culleton (WA) left the party in December 2016, after months of legal troubles and party infighting to sit as an independent bringing the number of party senators to 3.[27][28] On 3 February 2017, the High Court of Australia ruled that Culleton's election was invalid due to a conviction for which he was subject to being sentenced at the time of the election, notwithstanding that the conviction was subsequently annulled. The resulting vacancy was filled by a recount of the votes at the election, which resulted in Peter Georgiou taking the seat and returning the One Nation representation in the Senate to four.

During the 2017 Western Australian state election, several One Nation candidates either quit or were disendorsed.[29] Dane Sorensen provided a copy of the party's Western Australian "candidate agreement" form for this election, which all candidates had to sign. It includes an "administration fee" of $250,000 if an elected candidate subsequently leaves the party.[30] One Nation currently forms a 'conservative bloc' with the Liberal Democratic Party and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party in the Western Australia Legislative Council.[31]

On 27 October 2017, the full High Court, as Court of Disputed Returns, ruled that Malcolm Roberts had been ineligible to be elected to the Parliament. On 13 November, Senator Fraser Anning took Roberts' seat after a Senate recount. However, on the same day Anning left the party to become an Independent.[32]

On 14 June 2018, Senator Brian Burston announced his resignation from the party to sit as an independent, following a month-long clash with Hanson centred around the Turnbull Government's corporate tax cuts, on which Hanson had reversed her position. This reduced the party to two senators, with Hanson remaining the only member of One Nation elected at the 2016 Federal election.[33]

Hanson drew widespread condemnation when she wore the full Islamic dress into Senate Question Time, before calling for the burqa to be banned in Australia. Audible gasps of shock were heard in the parliament. Liberal party Senator and Attorney-General of Australia, George Brandis condemned Hanson's actions, declaring to the parliament that "To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do. I would ask you to reflect on that". Senator Brandis received applause and praise from all sides of parliament for his response.[34]

On 15 October 2018, a Senate motion brought by the party stating "it is OK to be white" was defeated 31–28 in a vote. The government expressed regret at the support the vote received, blaming it to an administrative error in which its senators were mistakenly instructed to vote positively. Critics noted that the phrase "it's OK to be white" has been associated with white supremacist rhetoric.[35]

Former Labor Party leader Mark Latham joined the party in November 2018 as leader for New South Wales.[36] He successfully contested a seat in the Legislative Council, winning it in March 2019.[37]

On 22 May 2017, a new scandal arose when a taped conversation between Hanson and political advisor James Ashby was released. The tape showed that Ashby had supported charging One Nation candidates inflated prices for campaign materials.[38][39]

In March 2019, One Nation was the subject of a two-part Al Jazeera documentary series asserting that the party was soliciting financial assistance from the National Rifle Association and Koch Industries in order to change Australian gun control laws. Al Jazeera used an undercover reporter posing as a gun rights advocate.[40][41][42][43][44] In response, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson condemned the documentary as a "hit piece" by a Qatar government backed news agency and announced that she had filed a complaint with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.[45][42][43] Similar sentiments were echoed by the One Nation officials, James Ashby and Steve Dickson, who were featured in the documentary.[46] In response to the documentary, the Australian Electoral Commission said that none of the activities shown in the documentary violated section 326 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 since they occurred overseas.[42]

At the May 2019 federal election One Nation polled 5.40% (up 1.12%) for the nationwide Senate primary vote. The party polled higher than their national vote in Queensland, taking 10.27% up 1.08%, of the primary vote in the senate.

The PHON House of Representatives candidate for the Division of O'Connor, Dean Smith,[47][48] who won 8.4% (7,252) votes, was in December of the same year a target of recruitment for Neo-Nazi group The Base. In secretly recorded tapes of his "interview" by a recruiter, Smith tells of his hatred of immigrants and his wish to "save the race". He tells the recruiter that he had become "more and more extreme and passionate about my views", and disillusioned with One Nation and the possibility of a political solution. However, he was deemed too great a risk for The Base because of his political profile, so was not admitted into their ranks.[49]

Also in 2019, Hanson received widespread condemnation in the Australian media after claiming that domestic violence victims routinely lie to the Family Court. The Law Council of Australia called for the abandonment of a federal parliamentary inquiry into the family law system, citing concerns that the hearings were being used by Hanson for political purposes to undermine domestic violence claims made by women.[50]

In April 2022, Queensland MP George Christensen who had represented the division of Dawson for the Liberal National party announced he had joined One Nation with the intention of contesting for the Senate in the upcoming Federal election.[51]

One Nation ran 149 candidates in the 2022 federal election;[52] the only seats where they did not are inner Melbourne-based Higgins and the rural Queensland seat of Kennedy, held by Bob Katter. Hanson's One Nation party has been criticised for running "ghost candidates" in several electorates for the 2022 federal election, who are not campaigning in the lead-up to the election and who have no online presence. Additionally, many do not live in the electorates they are listed as being the candidates for. Despite this, the AEC has said that it is not against the rules. One Nation had promised in the lead-up to the election that it would run candidates in all seats.[53]

One Nation says that whilst it recognises the positive contributions of immigrants to Australian life, it supports a general reduction in the levels of net migration to "closer to the 20th century average of 70,000", to stabilise population numbers, citing economic, cultural and environmental arguments against mass migration. The party also calls for a travel ban on certain countries, similar to one enacted by the Trump administration in the United States, in order to combat radical Islam and prevent the immigration of people the party argues are more likely to reject Australian values and promote violent extremism. The party also supports making English Australia's official language and supports stronger assimilation of immigrants. One Nation also seeks to withdraw Australia from the United Nations Refugee Convention and is opposed to the UN Global Compact on Migration.[81][82][78] Due to these statements, One Nation has been described as anti-Islam.[83][84]

One Nation supports a broadly protectionist platform, saying that it would review free trade agreements and revoke any "that are not in Australia's best interest."[85] It is opposed to foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land and businesses.[86] Wishing to prioritise jobs for Australian nationals, it would investigate "the abuse of foreign work visas."[87]

One Nation backed the Turnbull Government's controversial 2018 corporate tax cuts.[88][89][90]

The party argues for the introduction of Citizens Initiated Referenda (CIR) and states it will review the salaries and pensions paid to Australian politicians. In 2021, the Senate approved a motion tabled by Pauline Hanson which called on the federal government to reject the teaching of critical race theory in Australian schools.[91] It also supports a ban on wearing the burqa in public spaces.[92][93] One Nation has backed Hanson's comments regarding downplaying scientific consensus on climate change.[94][95] During the debate on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 which would legalize same-sex marriage in Australia, Hanson and other members of One Nation expressed their opposition to same-sex marriage. However, Hanson also stated the party would not take an official stance on same-sex marriage and that One Nation senators would be allowed a free vote on the issue.[96][97]

One Nation claims it will increase rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts and introduce life sentences for drug traffickers, Pauline Hanson has previously voiced her support of medicinal cannabis but strong objection to recreational drug usage and opposition to pill testing.[98] The party supports responsible gun ownership but wants tougher sentences for arms traffickers. The party also supports one law for all Australians and is opposed to any form of sharia law in Australia.[86]

One Nation is in favour of a substantial increase in the aged pension and disability support pension.[99] It was reported in 2016 that One Nation had voted with the Liberal government on a number of welfare cuts.[100]

The party would move foreign-owned multinationals out of the corporation tax system and into a transactions based system, saying that too many of them pay no tax on profits made in Australia.[101]

Many politicians, commentators and scientists claim that One Nation senators have spread misinformation and conspiracies on the effectiveness and scientific basis of COVID-19 vaccines.[102][103] One Nation opposes vaccine mandates, but denies being against vaccinations. However, in 2021, One Nation senator Mark Latham said that vaccinated people should be exempt from Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown.[104]

One Nation senators are frequent critics of any action on climate change and have called climate science a ‘scam’. One Nation has spread debunked conspiracy theories about climate change not occurring or being part of a plot by the United Nations.[105][106]

• 
  Senator Pauline Hanson (Qld), 2016–present, MP for Oxley (1997–98)
• 
  Senator Malcolm Roberts (Qld), 2016–2017, 2019–present

• Mark Latham MLC (2019–present)
• Rod Roberts MLC (2019–present)

• Stephen Andrew MLA (Mirani, 2017–present)

• Sarah Game MLC (2022–present)

• Senator-elect Heather Hill (Queensland 1998–1999), elected in 1998 and retrospectively disqualified in 1999 after being found ineligibile due to her dual citizenship.
• Senator Len Harris (Queensland 1999–2005), appointed after the disqualification of Heather Hill.
• Senator Brian Burston (New South Wales, 2016–2017), elected at the 2016 election). Resigned after falling out with Pauline Hanson and joined the United Australia Party in 2017.
• Senator Rod Culleton (Western Australia, 2016), elected at the 2016 election) but retrospectively disqualified after being found to have had a larceny charge in New South Wales at the time of the election.
• Senator Peter Georgiou (Western Australia, 2017–2019), appointed after the disqualification of Rod Culleton.
• Senator Fraser Anning (Queensland, 2017–2019), appointed after the disqualification of Malcolm Roberts). Anning left the party the same day he was sworn in, later became an Independent and then formed his own party Conservative National Party.

• David Oldfield MLC (1999–2007), formed One Nation NSW in 2000, but became an independent in 2004.

• Bill Feldman MLA (Caboolture, 1998–2001, formed City Country Alliance in 1999, leader of One Nation in Queensland from 1998 to 1999)
• Jeff Knuth MLA (Burdekin, 1998–2001; became an independent in 1999, formed Country Party Queensland later that year, and joined the City Country Alliance in 2000, rejoined One Nation in 2014, parliamentary whip of One Nation from 1998 to 1999)
• Dorothy Pratt MLA (Barambah 1998–2001, later Nanango, 2001–2012, became an independent in 1999)
• Harry Black MLA (Whitsunday, 1998–2001, joined City Country Alliance in 1999)
• David Dalgleish MLA (Hervey Bay, 1998–2001, joined City Country Alliance in 1999)
• John Kingston MLA (Maryborough, 1998–2003, became an independent in 1999)
• Shaun Nelson MLA (Tablelands, 1998–2001, became an independent in 1999)
• Jack Paff MLA (Ipswich West, 1998–2001, joined City Country Alliance in 1999)
• Peter Prenzler MLA (Lockyer, 1998–2001, joined City Country Alliance in 1999)
• Charles Rappolt MLA (Mulgrave, 1998)
• Ken Turner MLA (Thuringowa, 1998–2001, became an independent in 1999)
• Bill Flynn MLA (Lockyer, 2001–2004, leader of One Nation in Queensland from 2001 to 2004)
• Elisa Roberts MLA (Gympie, 2001–2006, became an independent in 2002)
• Rosa Lee Long MLA (Tablelands, 2001–2009, leader of One Nation in Queensland from 2002 to 2009, national leader of One Nation from 2004 to 2013)
• Steve Dickson MLA (Buderim, 2017, defected from the Liberal National Party in January 2017)

• John Fischer MLC (Mining and Pastoral, 2001–2005, became an independent in 2004, leader of One Nation in Western Australia from 2001 to 2004, national leader of One Nation from 2002 to 2004)
• Frank Hough MLC (Agricultural, 2001–2005, became an independent in 2004, joined New Country Party later that year, leader of One Nation in Western Australia from 2004 to 2004)
• Paddy Embry MLC (South West, 2001–2005, became an independent in 2003, joined New Country Party in 2004)
• Charles Smith MLC (East Metropolitan, 2017–2019, became an independent in 2019 then joined the Western Australia Party, continuing his service as MLC until 2021).
• Colin Tincknell MLC (South West, 2017–2021)
• Robin Scott MLC (Mining and Pastoral, 2017–2021)