Pauline Hanson suggests Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy

One Nation leader tells al-Jazeera reporter there are ‘a lot of questions’ about 1996 attack

Pauline Hanson has implied that the 1996 Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy, in comments recorded secretly by al-Jazeera.

Hidden camera footage, released by al-Jazeera as part of the undercover operation that revealed One Nation had sought a US$20m (A$28m) donation from the US gun lobby, showed the party’s leader saying she had “a lot of questions” about Port Arthur.

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One Nation’s James Ashby filmed seeking $20m from NRA to weaken Australia’s gun laws

Al-Jazeera journalist posing as gun campaigner films senior party figures in Washington DC soliciting financial support to help One Nation seize the balance of power

Senior One Nation figures James Ashby and Steve Dickson have been caught seeking millions of dollars of political donations from US gun rights group the National Rifle Association in a bid to seize the balance of power and weaken Australia’s gun laws.

The revelations are contained in an al-Jazeera investigation which used hidden cameras and a journalist posing as a grassroots gun campaigner to expose the far-right party’s extraordinary efforts to secure funding in Washington DC in September.

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Citizenship report puts national security reform on back burner – politics live

Joint committee calls for further review of bill stripping terrorists of citizenship, as PM hands down Closing the Gap report and Coalition keeps up medical transfers scare campaign. All the day’s events, live

The attorney-general’s office released the transcript of his interview with Kieran Gilbert on Sky News this morning.

It includes this exchange between Christian Porter, as the first law officer and Gilbert:

Chris Bowen and Mark Butler have held a press conference to blast the government for dumping the big stick.

Labor doesn’t support this policy but the Bowen/Butler argument is the government did, and this is yet another energy policy that has now bitten the dust. The government says it will take the policy to the coming election, and seek a mandate.

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