Pauline Hanson says domestic violence prevents police from dealing with ‘real crime’ in unearthed interview

One Nation leader labels family violence leave ‘ridiculous’ and decries ‘woke’ support of women’s rights in November podcast

Pauline Hanson has described paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as “ridiculous”, and suggested the issue is taking police away from “real crime”, calling for the family law system to be “wound back”.

In an unearthed interview, the One Nation leader said the advancements of women’s rights in the family law system over the decades had become “broken” because they favoured women and were now “suppressing the males all the time”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce dogged by Tommy Robinson questions – and by a dog – in spiky ABC interview

One Nation MP grilled in 7.30 interview about Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview by far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK Prime Minister Anthony Burnham after the latter took over the job yesterday. The Australian PM posted a note to X, emphasising the strategic allyship:

Congratulations Prime Minister Burnham on your appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Australia and the United Kingdom are longstanding friends, allies and partners, united by shared values and deep ties between our peoples.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Derryn Hinch mourned at state funeral; Mark Dreyfus tells antisemitism inquiry of ‘deeply wounding’ attack

Follow today’s news live

The use of AI in automated decision-making by government departments and agencies will be subject to tough rules under a new national plan, expected to extend to consumer protections, workplace safety and privacy.

As the Albanese government grapples with the rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence and a boom in datacentre construction, senior ministers have begun work to draw up new rules to ensure safety is built into AI processes inside government, prioritising fairness, accuracy and transparency.

I know who Pauline is, Mum is, and I know that’s not what her intention was in any way. I do think snippets of it was misinterpreted. Under no way, shape, or form did she say she wished the White Australia policy hadn’t have been changed. She does not support it and she does not want it back. So I do believe it’s been taken out of context.

We know that media grabbed their snippets and their grabs, and it’s all about clickbait, and then Labor’s obviously jumped on it, and so are the Liberals, right? That’s how they try to better themselves, by picking out a little slogan when she was talking about the history of immigration and the change that has occurred.

Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce says One Nation doesn’t want return of White Australia policy but backs Pauline Hanson on mass deportations

Lee Hanson claims her mother’s comments on Tommy Robinson podcast were ‘misinterpreted’

Barnaby Joyce says Pauline Hanson does not support the White Australia policy but he has backed her support for “mass deportations” of those overstaying their visas.

Hanson and her colleagues have spent days clarifying, explaining or walking back headline-grabbing parts of the One Nation leader’s trip to Europe, including a podcast interview with the far-right convicted criminal Tommy Robinson, her attendance at a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show and downtime by a hotel pool in Italy with the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Barnaby Joyce defends Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Tommy Robinson; police make arrest after man dies in Sydney house fire

One Nation MP says the media should be prepared to interview far-right activist. Follow today’s news live

Michelle Rowland says mandatory minimum standards for datacentres don’t apply to existing developments

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, told ABC News that mandatory minimum standards for datacentres would apply to new developments, not existing ones.

The scope and the timing of those is something that I think will be properly determined by national cabinet.

This is an issue that not only state governments but local councils have been dealing with as well.

It goes from being this hunched-over ball of fluff at the top of a tree looking down at you, to suddenly spreading out its limbs and flying over your head like a magical flying carpet, or this weird stingray-UFO thing in the sky.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: NT police still seek answers over 25 year-old murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio

Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of 28-year-old’s murder but remains were never found

Northern Territory Police have opened evidence boxes to uncover several previously unseen photographs from the investigation of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempted abduction of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of the infamous outback disappearance.

Continue reading...

How Pauline Hanson courts UK’s far-right – and builds a global brand – with ‘pseudo events’ and publicity stunts

The One Nation leader is set to be interviewed by Tommy Robinson as part of a media strategy that seems designed to seek scandal – and reach millions

Pauline Hanson’s highly publicised meetings with controversial far-right figures in the UK will drive international eyeballs to her content and continue building the global brand – and that’s by design, far-right experts say.

The One Nation leader is visiting on a “fact-finding mission” with her chief-of-staff, James Ashby, ticking off a number of the country’s most divisive personalities.

Continue reading...

Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west

With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down

Donald Trump came to office in 2017 after decades of bankruptcies and business failures. Yes, he was rich, but his latest financial disclosure, published this week, suggests he will depart billions richer.

In the first year of his second term, he made more than $2bn from Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump cryptocurrency, Trump watches, Trump cologne, Trump Bibles and more.

Continue reading...

One Nation is campaigning directly to Christians. But will party policies rub against worshippers’ conscience?

Anti-abortion policies may have appeal, but with one in three Australian churchgoers born overseas, talk of a monoculture may put them off

When One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce addressed anti-abortion campaigners at a Sydney rally in early June, the former deputy prime minister told the audience he could see “about 1,500 people who can hand out how to vote cards”.

Christian leaders spoke at the rally. The Lord’s Prayer was recited. Many there were active churchgoers.

Continue reading...

Guardian Essential poll: voters reject key One Nation policies as support slips

Survey shows two-point fall in vote amid concern about Pauline Hanson’s links to Gina Rinehart and ability to run country

Australians have emphatically rejected some of One Nation’s key policies, including shutting down SBS and ending multiculturalism, with voters raising concerns about Pauline Hanson’s closeness to the billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and whether the party has the skills needed to run the country, according to a new poll.

But even as the latest Guardian Essential poll finds voters have major reservations about Hanson and her party, more than half of respondents said they were either definitely or at least considering voting for One Nation at the next election.

Continue reading...

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation withdrew more than $800,000 of election spending claims after AEC inquiries

The Australian Electoral Commission is examining if party breached laws in its $6m public funding claim after the last election, documents show

The Australian Electoral Commission questioned Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party over more than $800,000 of claimed electoral expenditure for the last election, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show that the inquiries prompted the party to withdraw more than 140 items as it sought to provide additional information to justify almost 15% of the party’s $6.01m public funding claim.

Continue reading...

Angus Taylor won’t say if he supports multiculturalism

Treasurer says Coalition playing ‘footsie with the monoculture language’ after Liberal leader sidesteps questions at press conference

Angus Taylor has repeatedly refused to say whether he supports multiculturalism in Australia, sidestepping five questions at a press conference about his views and claiming “there’s all these vague words running around”.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, accused the opposition leader of “playing footsie” with One Nation and Pauline Hanson’s call for a “monoculture” in Australia, as Labor ministers committed to backing multiculturalism.

Continue reading...

Pauline Hanson says she ‘had to have a conversation’ about immigration and the Aboriginal flag with new Farrer MP

David Farley was told One Nation’s policy was to fly only the Australian flag, party leader tells conference

One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, says she “had to have a conversation” with the new Farrer MP, David Farley, after he appeared to defy her policies on immigration and flying Indigenous flags.

Shortly before winning Farrer in May’s byelection – the first federal lower house seat One Nation has won outright – Farley said Labor’s current immigration intake of 306,000 was “probably not” too much.

Continue reading...

AFP investigates banner stunt during Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech

Activist group GetUp claims responsibility for incident, saying ‘we thought the occasion deserved some honesty’

The Australian federal police is investigating a protest incident during Pauline Hanson’s speech at the National Press Club after political activist group GetUp claimed responsibility for the stunt.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the National Press Club said it had referred the incident to police after concluding none of its own staff were involved.

Continue reading...

One Nation’s ‘incredibly sloppy’ financial reports reveal more than $1m in missing or worthless assets

Exclusive: Financial returns, obtained by the Guardian, are ‘very poor and unprofessional’ and call into question party’s fitness to govern, expert says

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party reported more than $1m in missing and worthless assets in more than six years of filed financial reports, Guardian Australia can reveal.

The financial returns lodged by One Nation with the Office of Fair Trading in Queensland from 2016 to 2022 have been criticised by a leading expert in financial accounting as “sloppy and unprofessional”.

Continue reading...

Jacinta Allan says Pauline Hanson ‘chooses to barrack for bullies’ over ‘ditch the witch’ billboard

Victorian premier says she will always call out ‘misogynist’ views after One Nation leader says ‘if the shoe fits’

Jacinta Allan has dismissed leadership speculation and says she will continue to call out “sexist, misogynist, hateful” commentary directed at her, despite the One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s advice to “suck it up, sweetheart”.

On Sunday, the Victorian premier criticised a truck-mounted billboard, which has been travelling around Melbourne for several weeks, featuring AI-generated images of her wearing a black pointed hat alongside the phrase “ditch the witch”.

Continue reading...

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson tells rally Ben Roberts-Smith is a person ‘I respect and I admire’

Hanson compares former soldier’s prosecution for war crimes to her 2003 jailing for electoral fraud, which was later overturned

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, told a rally in support of Ben Roberts-Smith that the former soldier accused of war crimes is a person “I respect and I admire”, before its organiser called for “an army of civilians” to support him.

About 100 supporters gathered in Rocks Riverside Park in Seventeen Mile Rocks in southern Brisbane on Sunday.

Continue reading...

One Nation, six farcical explanations and no clearer understanding of its housing policy

Hanson’s party is leading in the polls, but it has a long way to go before being recognised as a serious political outfit

When sent out to do a cleanup job, it usually helps to not make the mess even worse.

It took One Nation six separate attempts over nearly 24 hours to clarify the basic details of their policy on foreign ownership of housing. Between Thursday night and Friday afternoon, the story turned from bizarre to farcical, with attempts to clarify the policy just making the situation murkier as Australians watched:

a Barnaby Joyce interview;

a quick do-over on Sky News on Thursday;

a Pauline Hanson social media update on Friday morning;

a Sean Bell interview, again on Sky, on Friday;

and then a 2GB spot;

before a written press release from Bell on Friday afternoon

Continue reading...

English Green party leader Zack Polanski tells Australian colleagues to ‘connect with anger’ to counter rightwing populism

Australian Greens should ‘take on’ Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Polanski tells Victorian conference, just as he took on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK

Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green party of England and Wales, has told his counterparts in Australia that they need to start “connecting with people’s anger” and learn from the “storytelling power” of populist rightwing politics.

Speaking via video link at the Victorian Greens campaign conference on Saturday night, Zack Polanski said the party in Australia needed to start “taking on” Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, just as his own party had taken on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Continue reading...

One Nation’s rapid national expansion in disarray as ‘significant risks’ force dissolution of new branches

Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia also show new branches and members will be subject to strict gag orders

One Nation’s rapid expansion of local branches across the country is in disarray, with the party being forced to dissolve and re-establish its new network less than eight months after the ambitious roll out began.

Documents seen by Guardian Australia show the party’s new general manager, Kelvin Morton, issued a directive to the party’s branches in April ordering committee members to properly reconstitute their branches after an internal review uncovered “significant risks”.

Continue reading...