Hanson, Pauline (1954-…), is a controversial Australian politician. During the 1990’s, she served in Australia’s House of Representatives and founded the One Nation political party. The policies of One Nation were widely attacked as racist and isolationist. They drew support from a variety of Australians, especially in rural areas.
Hanson was born Pauline Seccombe on May 27, 1954, in Queensland. She built a strong local reputation in business as a fish-and-chip shop owner before entering national politics. She also served as a local councilor in Ipswich, Queensland.
Hanson campaigned for a seat in the House in the national election of 1996. At first, the Liberal Party endorsed her as their candidate for the seat of Oxley, centered in Ipswich. Then, in a letter to the Queensland Times on January 6, she shocked the Liberals by complaining that the Australian government was pampering Aboriginal people (see Aboriginal peoples of Australia). Two weeks before the March 1996 election, the Liberal Party expelled Hanson, and she ran as an independent candidate for Oxley, winning the seat comfortably. In her notorious maiden speech before the Australian House of Representatives in Canberra, she described herself as a “fish-and-chip shop lady.” She attacked the United Nations, demanded an end to Asian immigration, and supported ending Australian foreign aid to other countries.
In April 1997, Hanson founded One Nation. The party’s policies included the abolition of antidiscrimination laws and gun-control legislation. The party also demanded the levying of high taxes on foreign imports to protect Australian businesses and workers. One Nation drew strong, often violent protests. Hanson herself became a kind of media celebrity.
In June 1998, One Nation won 11 seats in Queensland state elections. But in the national election called in October, the party failed to win any seats in the House, despite receiving a million votes. Hanson lost her own seat to a Liberal candidate. In November 2001, she failed in a bid to win a seat in the Australian Senate. She resigned as the leader of One Nation in January 2002. In March 2003, Hanson ran for a seat in the Legislative Council of New South Wales, the upper house of that state’s Parliament, but was narrowly defeated.
In 2001, Hanson had been ordered to stand trial for illegally registering One Nation as a political party, because it was composed of supporters rather than members. She was also accused of dishonestly obtaining electoral funding from the government. In August 2003, Hanson was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. She went to jail, but appealed the conviction and was acquitted in November 2003. In early 2004, Hanson announced her retirement from politics. But in October, she ran unsuccessfully for the Australian Senate. In the 2016 general election, Hanson and three other One Nation members were elected to the Senate.
