Pauline Hanson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pauline Hanson
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Hanson in 2017
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| Senator for Queensland | |
| Assumed office 2 July 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Glenn Lazarus |
| Leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation | |
| Assumed office 29 November 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Jim Savage |
| In office 11 April 1997 – 27 January 2002 |
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| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | John Fischer |
| Leader of Pauline's United Australia Party | |
| In office 24 May 2007 – 31 March 2010 |
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| Deputy | Brian Burston |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | Party dissolved |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Oxley |
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| In office 2 March 1996 – 3 October 1998 |
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| Preceded by | Les Scott |
| Succeeded by | Bernie Ripoll |
| Councillor of the City of Ipswich for Division 7 |
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| In office 3 April 1994 – 22 March 1995 |
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| Preceded by | Paul Pisasale |
| Succeeded by | Denise Hanly |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Pauline Lee Seccombe
27 May 1954 Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia |
| Political party | Independent (before 1995, 1996–1997, 2010–2013) Liberal (1995–1996) Pauline Hanson's One Nation (1997–2002, 2013–present) Pauline's United Australia Party (2007–2010) |
| Spouses |
Walter Zagorski
(divorced)Mark Hanson
(m. 1980, divorced) |
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Pauline Lee Hanson (born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician. She is the founder and leader of One Nation, a political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian Senate since the 2016 federal election.
Before entering politics, Hanson ran a fish and chip shop. She began her political career in 1994 on the Ipswich City Council. In 1995, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and was chosen to run for the Division of Oxley seat in the 1996 federal election.
The Liberal Party later withdrew its support for her because of comments she made about Aboriginal Australians. However, her name was already on the ballot paper as a Liberal. Hanson won the election and became an independent member of parliament. In 1997, she co-founded the One Nation party.
After losing her seat in 1998, Hanson ran in several more elections. She rejoined One Nation in 2013 and became its leader again in 2014. She was elected to the Senate in 2016 and re-elected in 2022.
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Early life and work
Pauline Hanson was born in Woolloongabba, a suburb of Brisbane, on 27 May 1954. She was the fifth of seven children. She went to school until she was 15 years old.
Her parents owned a fish and chip shop in Ipswich, Queensland. From a young age, Hanson and her siblings helped in the shop by preparing food and taking orders. She also helped with the business's paperwork.
As a young woman, Hanson worked at Woolworths and then in an office. Later, she and her second husband, Mark Hanson, started a roofing business. She handled the office work for the company. After they divorced, she bought her own fish and chip shop in Ipswich. She sold the shop when she was elected to the Parliament in 1996.
Political career
How she entered politics
Hanson was first elected to the Ipswich City Council in 1994. In 1995, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia. The party chose her to run for the seat of Oxley in the 1996 federal election.
At the time, Oxley was considered a very safe seat for the Labor Party. Because of this, most people thought Hanson had no chance of winning. However, she gained a lot of media attention for her views on government support for Aboriginal Australians. The Liberal Party disagreed with her comments and removed her as their candidate.
Because the ballot papers were already printed, she was still listed as the Liberal candidate. Hanson won the election with a large swing in votes. Since the Liberal Party no longer supported her, she entered parliament as an independent.
First speech in Parliament
On 10 September 1996, Hanson gave her first speech, known as a maiden speech, in the House of Representatives. She said she won her seat because of her comments about benefits for Aboriginal people.
She also said that Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Asians" and that immigrants should adopt Australian culture. She argued for an end to multiculturalism, which is the idea that different cultures can exist together in one society. Her speech was widely reported in the media and caused a lot of debate.
Starting the One Nation party
In 1997, Hanson co-founded the Pauline Hanson's One Nation political party. The party became popular with some voters, especially in country areas. One Nation called for big changes, including stopping immigration and ending multiculturalism.
The party also wanted to bring back protectionism, which means using taxes to protect local industries from foreign competition. They were against selling government-owned companies like Qantas.
1998 re-election campaign
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Before the 1998 federal election, the boundaries of her electorate, Oxley, were changed. A new electorate called Blair was created, which included many of her supporters. Hanson decided to run for the seat of Blair instead of Oxley.
In her campaign, she focused on creating more jobs. She received the most first-preference votes (the first choice on the ballot paper). However, because the other major parties directed their voters to rank her last, she lost the election to the Liberal candidate, Cameron Thompson.
Nationally, One Nation received a large number of votes, but only one of its members, Len Harris, was elected as a Senator for Queensland.
Leaving and rejoining One Nation
After losing her seat, Hanson ran for the Senate in the 2001 election but was not successful. She left the One Nation party in 2002.
In 2007, Hanson started a new party called Pauline's United Australia Party. She ran for the Senate again in the 2007 election but did not win. She also ran in the 2009 Queensland state election and the 2011 New South Wales election without success.
In 2013, Hanson rejoined One Nation. The next year, she became the party's leader again. She ran for a seat in the 2015 Queensland state election and lost by a very small number of votes.
Return to Parliament as a Senator
Hanson announced she would run for the Australian Senate in Queensland at the 2016 federal election. She won a seat, and her party, One Nation, also had three other senators elected. Because it was a special type of election called a double dissolution, she was given a full six-year term.
In August 2017, Hanson wore a burqa in the Senate to draw attention to her call for it to be banned in public. This action was criticised by members of other political parties.
On 15 October 2018, Hanson proposed a motion in the Senate that said, "It's OK to be white." The motion was defeated. The government senators who first supported it later said they had made a mistake.
In 2019, Hanson spoke out against the ban on climbing Uluru, a place that is sacred to local Aboriginal people. She was shown climbing the rock on a television program shortly before the ban started.
Hanson was re-elected to the Senate at the 2022 federal election.
Political views
Hanson's views on race, immigration, and Islam have been widely discussed in Australia. She has often been called a racist, but she denies this.
Immigration and multiculturalism
In her first speech to Parliament, Hanson called for less immigration, especially from Asia. She has been a strong critic of multiculturalism, arguing that it divides the country.
A famous moment in her career was when a journalist asked her on the TV show 60 Minutes if she was xenophobic (afraid of foreigners). Her reply, "Please explain?", became a well-known catchphrase in Australia.
Views on Islam
Hanson has strong views about Islam. In 2016, she called for a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia. She also proposed policies like stopping the building of new mosques and putting CCTV cameras in existing ones.
In her 2016 maiden speech to the Senate, she said that Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Muslims." This caused members of the Australian Greens party to walk out of the chamber in protest.
Personal life
Hanson has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Walter Zagorski. In 1980, she married Mark Hanson, and they had two children together. They divorced in 1987.
In 2003, Hanson faced legal troubles related to the registration of her political party. She was found guilty of electoral fraud and spent 11 weeks in prison. However, the Queensland Court of Appeal later overturned the convictions, and she was released.
Hanson has appeared on several television shows, including Dancing with the Stars in 2004 and Celebrity Apprentice in 2011.
In art
Aboriginal artist Karla Dickens created a collage called "Clown Nation" which featured a photograph of Hanson. It was part of a series called A Dickensian Country Show and was displayed at the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art in 2020.
