Pauline Hanson

Pauline Lee Hanson (née Seccombe; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician and former leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a political party with a populist and anti-immigration platform. In 2006, she was named by "The Bulletin" as one of the 100 most influential Australians of all time. [ [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=af0lJK9EJytI&refer=australia Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand ] ]

Early life

Hanson was raised in Woolloongabba, an inner city suburb of Brisbane. Her grandfather was an immigrant from England in 1908. Her father owned a take-away fish and chip shop. Hanson left school at the age of fifteen after barely passing, and worked in a variety of unskilled clerical and service jobs. She accumulated several rental properties, becoming independently wealthy. She married twice and has four children. In her early political career, she was famous for having owned a fish and chips shop in Ipswich, a city near Brisbane.

Political background

Hanson was an independent local councillor in the City of Ipswich from 1994 until an early election due to administrative changes in 1995. Narrowly losing her seat, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and was endorsed as the Liberal Party's candidate for the House of Representatives electorate of Oxley (based in Ipswich) for the March 1996 Federal election. At the time, Oxley was the safest Labor seat in Queensland.

Just prior to the election, Hanson made comments to "The Queensland Times" - a daily newspaper in Ipswich - advocating the abolition of special government assistance for Aborigines above what was available for other Australians. These comments led to her disendorsement by the Liberal Party during the campaign. However, ballot papers had already been printed listing Hanson as the Liberal candidate, and the Australian Electoral Commission had closed nominations for the seat. As a result, Hanson was still listed as the Liberal candidate when votes were cast.

Hanson subsequently won the election easily, with 54 percent of preferences going to the coalition. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2004/guide/minorprefs.htm Minor Party Preferences. Antony Green Election Guide. Federal Election 2004. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) ] ]

Maiden speech

On 10 September 1996 Hanson gave her first speech to the House of Representatives, which was widely reported in the media Australia-wide. In her opening lines, Hanson positioned herself "not as a polished politician but as a woman who has had her fair share of life's knocks", and with views based on "commonsense, and my experience as a mother of four children, as a sole parent, and as a businesswoman running a fish and chip shop. I won the seat of Oxley largely on an issue that has resulted in me being called a racist. That issue related to my comment that Aboriginals received more benefits than non- Aboriginals." Hanson then asserted that "mainstream Australians" were subject to "a type of reverse racism [...] by those who promote political correctness and those who control the various taxpayer funded `industries' that flourish in our society servicing Aboriginals, multiculturalists and a host of other minority groups." This theme continued with the assertion that "present governments are encouraging separatism in Australia by providing opportunities, land, moneys and facilities available only to Aboriginals." Among a series of criticisms of Aboriginal land rights, access to welfare and reconciliation, Hanson criticised the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, saying "Anyone with a criminal record can, and does, hold a position with ATSIC". There then followed a short series of statements on family breakdown, youth unemployment, international debt, the Family Law Act, child support, and the privatisation of Qantas and other national enterprises.

The major issue in her speech was an attack on immigration and the Federal Government policy of multiculturalism:

Additionally, Hanson advocated the return of high-tariff protectionism and generally decried many other aspects of economic rationalism.

As a result of her controversial maiden speech, Hanson was briefly catapulted to the forefront of Australian politics, with the Australian population divided on whether Hanson was honest and plain-spoken, a far-right nativist, or misinformed, uneducated and a racist. Some of Hanson's critics also derided what they saw as her inarticulate style—the very trait that her supporters took to be evidence of her credentials as a speaker 'for the people'. On 13 October 1996, asked by Tracey Curro on "60 Minutes" if she was xenophobic, she replied "Please explain?", which has since become an oft-parodied catch phrase within Australian culture.

The reaction of the mainstream political parties was overwhelmingly negative, with parliament passing a resolution (supported by all members except Graeme Campbell) condemning her views on immigration and multiculturalism. However, the Prime Minister at the time, John Howard refused to censure Hanson or speak critically about her, acknowledging that her views were shared by many Australianscite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2002/s458299.htm | title=Pauline Hanson pulls the plug as One Nation president | publisher=ABC | date=14 January 2002 | accessdate=2007-08-29] , commenting that he saw the expression of such views as evidence that the 'pall of political correctness' had been lifted in Australia.

Allegations of racism

Despite repeated denials of the racism charge by Hanson, the public discussion of whether or not Hanson's views were racist quickly became the topic of academic interest in Australia. For example, at the 1997 annual conference of the Australian and New Zealand Comminications Association (ANZCA) at La Trobe University, a paper was presented with the title 'Phenomena and Epiphenomena: is Pauline Hanson racist?'. [http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120055 Phenomena and Epiphenomena: is Pauline Hanson racist?] In 1998, Keith Suter argued that Hanson's views were better understood as an angry response to globalisation. [http://www.wacc.org.uk/wacc/publications/media_development/archive/1998_3/australia_the_media_and_the_politics_of_anger Australia, the media and the politics of anger] By August 1998 perceptions in Asia of Hanson's popularity being related to racism were affecting international relations and prompted Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs under John Howard to issue a media release calling on Pauline Hanson, David Oldfield and David Ettridge to "disassociate themselves from the racist slurs being promoted in the Asian media by people claiming to be their closest supporters." [ [http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/1998/fa110b_98.html foreignminister.gov.au] Hanson Must Disassociate Herself From Racist Slurs] In 2000, The University of NSW press published the book [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3pHjwge_d4MC&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=pauline+hanson+racism+asian+media&source=web&ots=r7vQnqRAQd&sig=_dYPsS-oFf7cDkdeJpfSnyl4sW4&hl=en|Race, Colour and Identity in Australia and New Zealand] , which identified Hanson as a central figure in the 'racism debate' in Australia of the 1990s, noting that senior Australian academics such as Jon Stratton, Ghassan Hage and Andrew Jakubowicz had explored Hanson's significance in an international as well as national context [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3pHjwge_d4MC&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=pauline+hanson+racism+asian+media&source=web&ots=r7vQnqRAQd&sig=_dYPsS-oFf7cDkdeJpfSnyl4sW4&hl=en The Racism Debate]

In 2004, Hanson appeared on the nationally televised ABC interview show Enough Rope. Archival footage from a 60 Minutes program shot on the streets of Ipswich was used to introduce claims about racism and bigotry in Hanson's views. Hanson challenged Denton to show her things that she'd said that were racist. Denton responded with an example of the kinds of things that were being saidWho|date=June 2008 as a result of Hanson's expressed views. According to the transcript, Hanson was unaware of the racist outcomes of her views,Clarifyme|date=June 2008 despite the similarity to her own words. [http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1203646.htm Pauline Hanson on Enough Rope] In 2006, ten years after her maiden speech, its effects were still being discussed within a racism framework, [http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=1590 10 years after Pauline Hanson's maiden speech, still lessons to be learned] as well as being included in resources funded by the Queensland Government on 'Combating racism in Queensland'. [http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/history/timeline/period/Transforming-Multiculturalism/screen/9.Combating-racism-in-Queensland Combating racism in Queensland] In 2007, Hanson publicly backed Kevin Andrews, then Minister for Immigration under John Howard, in his views about African migrants and crime. [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22535794-2,00.html Pauline Hanson backs Kevin Andrews on migrants]

One Nation

On the back of her relatively small but loyal supporter base, in April 1997 she founded Pauline Hanson's One Nation with her senior advisor David Oldfield and professional fundraiser David Ettridge. Many of her branch formation meetings and political rallies across Australia in the next two years would attract protests, occasionally spilling over to violence between Hanson supporters and protestors.

The peak of Hanson's success occurred in June 1998, when One Nation attracted nearly one-quarter of the vote in that month's State elections in Queensland, and One Nation won 11 out of 89 seats in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

"Death" video

In November 1997 Hanson, under suggestion from Oldfield, recorded a video which was to be screened to One Nation members and supporters in the event of her assassination, following claims that she and her daughter had received anonymous death threats. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1203646.htm ENOUGH ROPE with Andrew Denton - episode 60: Pauline Hanson (20/09/2004) ] ] [ [http://www.truthinmedia.org/truthinmedia/Bulletins/tim97-12-1.html "Trials of Being a David" - TiM GW Bulletin 97/12-1 (12/05/97) ] ] The 12-minute tape started off with the following message:

and then urged that

Declining popularity

Ever since then, Hanson's popularity has declined. During the campaign for the Federal election of 3 October 1998, she supported a number of policies which alienated much of her support base,Fact|date=May 2008 such as no increase in pensions for second and subsequent children of single mothers, and replacement of all taxes by a 2% "easy tax" which would be payable on all sales, not simply at the point of consumption as with the GST.

She lost her seat in Parliament after an electoral redistribution split Oxley before the 1998 election. She contested the neighbouring Division of Blair and won 36% of the primary vote, [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp09a.htm Federal Elections 1998 (Research Paper 9 1998-99) ] ] slightly over 10% more than her nearest rival. However, preferences were enough to elect the Liberal Party candidate, Cameron Thompson. Nationally, One Nation gained 8.99% of the Senate vote [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp08a.htm#Results] and 8.4% of the Representatives vote, but only one MP was elected - Len Harris as Senator for Queensland. (Heather Hill was originally elected to this position, but the High Court of Australia ruled that although she was an Australian citizen, she was ineligible to sit as a Senator as she had not renounced her childhood British citizenship). Hanson alleges in her 2007 autobiography "Pauline Hanson: Untamed & Unashamed" that a number of other politicians had dual citizenship yet this did not prevent them from holding positions in Parliament.

At the next Federal election on 10 November 2001, Hanson ran for a Queensland Senate seat but narrowly failed. She has accounted for her declining popularity by blaming Prime Minister John Howard for stealing her policies.cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/20/1061261209218.html
title=It's porridge for Pauline|publisher="The Age"|date=2003-08-20|accessdate=2007-09-12]

"It has been widely recognised by all, including the media, that John Howard sailed home on One Nation policies. In short, if we were not around, John Howard would not have made the decisions he did."

Other interrelated factors which have contributed to her downfall include her connection with a series of advisors (John Pasquarelli, David Ettridge and David Oldfield), all of whom she has fallen out with; disputes amongst her supporters and a lawsuit over the organisational structure of One Nation.

Hanson also claimed over the years to have been systematically misrepresented and publicly vilified by the mainstream media.Fact|date=June 2008

In 2003 she left Queensland, moved to Sylvania Waters, Sydney in New South Wales (NSW) and stood for the NSW Upper House in the 22 March State election. She lost narrowly to Shooters Party candidate John Tingle.

Hanson had also assisted Australian country musician Brian Letton in making a record with Tommy Tecko. In 2006, she commenced a new career selling real estate in Queensland. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Hanson-to-sell-houses/2005/02/28/1109546794033.html Hanson to sell houses - National - www.smh.com.au ] ]

She has been parodied and impersonated by drag queen Pauline Pantsdown, who sampled snippets from Hanson's speeches to create a song called "I'm a Backdoor Man". After Hanson successfully pursued legal action against Pantsdown, Pantsdown used the same technique to create the track "I Don't Like It", a 1998 Top 10 single in Australia.

Fraud conviction and acquittal

On 20 August 2003, a jury convicted Hanson and Ettridge of electoral fraud. Hanson was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the District Court of Queensland for claiming that 500 members of the "Pauline Hanson Support Movement" were members of the political organisation "Pauline Hanson's One Nation", in order to register that organisation as a political party and apply for electoral funding. Because the registration was found to be unlawful, Hanson's receipt of electoral funding worth AUD$498,637 resulted in two further convictions for dishonestly obtaining property. Hanson's initial reaction to the verdict was - "Rubbish, I'm not guilty. It's a joke."

The case did not escape politicians' notice: Prime Minister John Howard thought it was "a very long, unconditional sentence". Bronwyn Bishop MHR claimed Hanson was a political prisoner, drawing analogy between Hanson's conviction and the oppression of Robert Mugabe's opposition in his Zimbabwean regime.

On 6 November 2003, the Queensland Court of Appeal (comprising Chief Justice P de Jersey, Justice MA McMurdo (President of the Court of Appeal) and Justice JA Davies) quashed Hanson's and Ettridge's convictions. [ [http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/qjudgment/QCA%202003/QCA03-488.pdf courts.qld.gov.au] The Court's unanimous decision was that:
* the (more than) 500 persons on the list were members of the party;
* that even if they had not been, they were members of a "closely related party", which was sufficient under the "Electoral Act 1992" to make the registration legal;
* the registration was legal; and
* none of the convictions could stand.] McMurdo J publicly rebuked many politicians including Prime Minister John Howard and Mrs Bronwyn Bishop MHR, whose observations, she said, demonstrated at least "a fundamental misunderstanding of the Rule of Law... [and] an attempt to influence the judicial...process". The Court also ruminated that had the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions been better resourced, "the present difficulty may well have been avoided".

Some criticism was directed at the political interference of Tony Abbott, who had arranged for the lawyers who instituted the legal action which resulted in Hanson going to gaol to act on a largely " pro bono" basis. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663841332.html Hanson to sue Abbott? - OpinionWebDiaryArchive2003 - www.smh.com.au ] ] Investigations by the ABC's "Four Corners" programme showed that Abbott had financed disgruntled ex One Nation member Tony Sharples's court case against Hanson, in order to derail the One Nation party. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/22/1061529330032.html Tony Abbott's dirty Hanson trick - and he lied about it, of course - OpinionWebDiaryArchive2003 - www.smh.com.au ] ]

Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, initiated legislative changes to Queensland Law shortly after the verdict ensuring Hanson's conviction would mean she could not return to politics in the StateFact|date=June 2008, despite her convictions being eventually overturned and her prison sentence ruled wrongful. Peter Beattie and his Government also denied Hanson any financial restitution for her ordealFact|date=June 2008, despite her very public protests. Questions were raisedFact|date=June 2008 as to why former Queensland Chief Magistrate, Di Fingleton, received a large sum of restitutionFact|date=June 2008 following her wrongful imprisonment in a very similar set of circumstances. Critics slammed Peter Beattie for the apparent double standards.

In January 2004, Hanson announced that she did not intend to return to politics. [ [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/16/1073877995439.html Hanson rules out return to politics - http://www.theage.com.au ] ]

Electoral Funding

After legal troubles in 2000 related to fraudulent registration of the One Nation Party, Hanson was facing bankruptcy. She made an appeal to supporters to give money to help her through her hard times. Sean Nelson attacked Hanson, saying, "She can afford to live on a $700,000 mansion just outside of Rosewood. The people up here that she's asking to give money to are pensioners and farmers that are doing it tough." [ [http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s112769.htm AM Archive - Hanson faces bankruptcy ] ] Hanson, however, claimed she considered selling her home.

Hanson claims she did not run for the senate to make money, saying, "I think everyone would know I don't do it for the money." [13] However, running in elections has earned Hanson electoral funding. According to Misha Schubert from The Age, "Ms Hanson, earned $199,886 from taxpayers for winning more than 4 per cent of the vote, and another $7695 in donations. She declared only $35,426 in campaign expenditure, potentially pocketing as much as $170,000." Hanson refused to repay the money back to taxpayers. [14]

Hanson's return to politics

On 15 September 2004, Hanson announced that she would be standing as an independent candidate for one of Queensland's seats in the Senate in the 9 October election. She declared, "I don't want all the hangers on. I don't want the advisers and everyone else. I want it to be this time Pauline Hanson." She was ultimately unsuccessful, receiving only 31.77% of the required quota of primary votes,cite web|url=http://results.aec.gov.au/12246/results/SenateStateFirstPrefs-12246-QLD.htm|title=First Preferences by Candidate - Queensland|author=Australian Electoral Commission|date=9 November 2005|accessdate=2007-08-07] and did not pick up enough additional support through preferences. However, she attracted more votes than the One Nation party (4.54% compared to 3.14%) and, unlike her former party, recovered her deposit from the Australian Electoral Commission and secured $150,000 of public electoral funding. [cite news|title=Top payout for running|work=The Northern Times|page=12|date=15 October 2004]

United Australia

On 24 May 2007 Hanson launched Pauline's United Australia Party. [cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/now-paulines-for-a-united-australia/2007/05/24/1179601573572.html|title=Now Pauline's for a united Australia|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=24 May, 2007|accessdate=2007-05-25] Hanson contested the Queensland Senate in the 2007 Federal elections of which she received over 4% of total votes [http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/SenateStateFirstPrefsByGroup-13745-QLD.htm] The party envokes the partial namesake of the historic United Australia Party. [ [http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/Party_Registration/Registered_parties/index.htm Current List of Political Parties ] ] Speaking on her return to politics, she stated: "I have had all the major political parties attack me, been kicked out of my own party and ended up in prison, but I don't give up." [ [http://www.theage.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/hanson-flying-below-radar-for-one-last-shot-at-senate/2007/11/20/1195321782077.html Hanson flying below radar for one last shot at Senate - theage.com.au ] ]

In October 2007, Hanson launched her campaign song, entitled "Australian Way of Life." At the first performance of this song she spoke inclusively of all audience members regardless of nationality, saying "Welcome everyone, no matter where you come from." [http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Hanson-launches-campaign-song/2007/10/05/1191091356094.html Hanson launches campaign song - Breaking News - National - Breaking News ] ] This is despite her support for a freeze on immigration and her claims that African migrants carry disease.

Appearance on "Dancing with the Stars"

In late 2004 during her election campaign, Hanson competed in the Australian Reality TV show "Dancing with the Stars" on the Seven Network. In the show a number of Australian celebrities compete against one another in ballroom dancing. Hanson and her partner Salvatore Vecchio made it to the final, surprising many in Australian politics and media as she advanced due to audience support in SMS voting, but lost to former "Home and Away" star Bec Cartwright.

Promotional work

In September 2006, Hanson appeared in a commercial for Donut King, an Australian chain of doughnut retailers, with the slogan "What do you feel like?". [ [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20557560-5006002,00.html Pauline's gone do-nuts | The Daily Telegraph ] ] Hanson has also promoted New Zealand company MR MOSS run by friend John Lehmann. Fact|date=November 2007

Autobiography

In March 2007, Hanson published her autobiography "Untamed and Unashamed." [ [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2007/1884336.htm Radio National Breakfast - 29 March 2007 - Pauline Hanson ] ] [ [http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an000041167021 Libraries Australia - Untamed & unashamed : time to explain / Pauline Hanson ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.paulinehanson.com.au/ Pauline Hanson's official website]
* [http://www.gwb.com.au/inside.htm "Inside One Nation" by Scott Balson]