Who is Pauline Hanson?
Born in Brisbane in 1954, Pauline Hanson ran a fish and chip shop in Ipswich, and later sat on Ipswich City Council. The Liberal Party disendorsed her, yet in 1996 she won the seat of Oxley as an independent and in 1997 she co-founded One Nation. Her seat was lost in 1998. She quit the party in 2002 and came back in 2013, then took over as leader in 2014. The Senate seat for Queensland has been hers since 2016. A 2003 electoral fraud conviction sent her to jail for 11 weeks, and the Queensland Court of Appeal later quashed it. One Nation rose in opinion polls in 2026, and its candidate David Farley won the Farrer by-election on 9 May 2026.
Previously: Co-founder of One Nation (1997) · Member for Oxley (1996-1998) · Ipswich City Councillor (1994-1995)
Documented positions
- She proposes three years of negative net overseas migration followed by a cap of 130,000 a year, and she wants migration from nine countries paused, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria included.Source: onenation.org.au
- Speaking in June 2026 to the National Press Club, she urged an end to multiculturalism and said migrants should adopt Australian language, traditions and dress.Source: abc.net.au
- She supports banning burqas and face coverings nationally.Source: abc.net.au
- She is against net zero and in favour of coal, gas and nuclear power.Source: onenation.org.au
- The national interest would be defined in law under her plan, foreign investors would be barred from essential services and property sales to non-residents would stop.Source: onenation.org.au
- Employers would gain more rights to dismiss staff under the workplace law changes she proposes, and she is against both minimum wage rises and same job same pay laws.Source: abc.net.au
- SBS would be axed, the ABC would turn subscription-only in cities and the National Indigenous Australians Agency would be scrapped if she had her way.Source: abc.net.au
- COVID-19 vaccine mandates meet her opposition, and she supports a Royal Commission into how the pandemic was managed.Source: onenation.org.au
- The pro-life policy of her party would shorten the time limits for abortion and ban sex-selective terminations.Source: onenation.org.au
Record
Immigration, energy, foreign ownership and the 2023 Voice referendum, which she opposed, have been her campaign themes in the Senate. A bill to ban the burqa was blocked from introduction in November 2025, so she wore one into the chamber; the Senate was suspended for over an hour and she was barred from the chamber for the rest of the day. A 2022 post of hers told Senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan, and in 2024 the Federal Court ruled that it breached the Racial Discrimination Act. On 27 July 2026 the Full Federal Court dismissed her appeal unanimously, and in August 2026 she applied to the High Court for special leave to appeal, also asking it to rule on whether section 18C is valid.
Supporters cite One Nation's 2026 poll gains, as well as how consistent she has been on immigration and the cost of living. Critics call what she has said about Muslims and migrants divisive.
