CANBERRA, ACT. — We look back at the now all-too-familiar modus operandi of Pauline Hanson on ABC Media Watch from 1998 to 2026. What Hanson presents to the media today, such as at a Saturday, October 3, 2026, Victorian election campaign launch at Crown in Melbourne, is similar to what Hanson was stating from 1998 onwards.
By all accounts, Pauline Hanson is just rehashing her old media statements for the modern era, now with the added advantage of social media and the discovery of thousands of overseas bots on social media flooding the internet as they pretend to be Hanson supporters from Africa, Kenya, India and the Middle East, strangely, including Muslims.
“She is in this redneck celebrity vortex and, ah, from which she does not want to escape,” Richard Ackland, Media Watch, 1998.
“As prime minister, what would be the first thing you’d do?” (long silence during a 1998 interview on The Footy Show).
“She’d engaged some savvy, cynical operators, and her machine was cranking into action. David Oldfield may have failed in his dazzling prize for the Mayor of Manly, but he could not have scripted better Pauline’s lines for the media.” (7:30 Report, June 3, 1998).
“Raised by a single parent is a classic scenario for an environment to become homosexual. That is statistically proven.”
“Oldfield understood much more quickly than the journalists and commentators that the appeal of Hansonism had nothing to do with facts or logic. It has everything to do with emotion and fear.”
“Ten days before the Queensland election, Pauline Hanson let a few hares loose on the landscape,” Ackland said.
“Native title is just a precursor to the establishment of a taxpayer-funded Aboriginal state,” Hanson said.
“This bought out a few of the usual suspects in a rash of fresh admiration,” Ackland said.
“The Hanson factor is when governments dump on the electorate; the day will come when the electorate dumps on government. That’s the Hanson factor and the electorate is sick and tired of being dumped on,” Alan Jones said on Sydney’s 2UE on June 5, 1998.
“And big Bob Francis, Adelaide’s aging shock jock, nailed One Nation’s colours to his mast,” Ackland said.
“But I tell you what. I’m voting for Pauline Hanson. I just want to see what that vote can do in Australia to make the Liberal Party and the Labor Party and certainly the Democrats understand that there are lots of people out there who want to see a change in the main style, the main going the Liberal and Labor parties. I mean, really, they, that all I can say is, is politicians give me the shits,” Bob Francis said on 5AA Adelaide.
“Big Bob must have forgotten that his heroine is also a politician. One recent entrant who suffered a Pauline conversion was 19-year-old Christina Jones, a cadet scribe with the Gold Coast Bulletin,” Ackland said.
“I believe Pauline Hanson has some genuine policies to offer. When I walk through Surfers Paradise, I’m bombarded with signs in foreign languages, which annoys me. I haven’t had the good fortune to travel overseas, but I would not expect to see a bevy of signs in English in downtown Baghdad,” Christina Jones wrote in the Gold Coast Bulletin in June 1998.
“Normally, this would be Hara-Kiri journalism, but not so north of the Tweed in this day and age,” Ackland responded.
“Yet, there was one response to Hanson’s claims about Aboriginal sovereignty which really put more gasoline on the flames,” Ackland said.
“It’s not only an inaccurate, dishonest speech, but it verges on the deranged in various places,” then Prime Minister John Howard told ABC News on June 3, 1998.
“The Prime Minister was careful not to say that Pauline was deranged, only her speech. But the genie was out of the bottle, and the Prime Minister was being reported as calling our rapidly blonding heroine ‘deranged’,” Ackland said.
“Pauline Hanson [was] called deranged as the Prime Minister attacks the MP,” Seven News, June 3, 1998.
“Prime Minister Howard has described her as deranged and dishonest and has accused her of fanning racist sentiment.” National Nine News, June 3, 1998.
“Prime Minister John Howard has delivered his strongest attack on Pauline Hanson, branding her deranged, hysterical and dishonest,” The Daily Telegraph, June 4, 1998.
“The accumulated effect and the way the reporting of it was fudged played just splendidly into Pauline’s palpitating paws, as she herself knew,” Ackland said.
“If he’s going to call me deranged, then, well, um, he must face the facts that he’s calling a lot of other Australians out there, if not hundreds of thousands – if not millions – as deranged,” Hanson told Ray Martin on A Current Affair on June 3, 1998.
“Ray was having trouble shooting this tropical fish in the barrel,” Ackland quipped on Media Watch.
“The [parliamentary voting] record shows that in 148 votes on important legislation in the federal parliament, you didn’t bother voting 100 times,” Martin stated.
“Ray, I’m not there to make a record for myself, okay. I’m there to make a difference. And I believe I have made a difference,” Hanson says.
“That’s a great line, but 148 votes and 100 times you weren’t even there,” Martin retorts.
“Ray, how do you expect me to go down and vote on possibly some issues? Like I said, the week was one where I totally disagree with both sides of parliament.
“I thought you go to parliament as a parliamentarian to vote, don’t you?” Martin asked.
“Not to make a record. And that’s all,” Hanson responded.
“And Uncle Ray felt obliged to defend himself the next night [A Current Affair, 4/6/1998]. Far from revealing the ‘perils of Pauline’, discovered she was the darling of his long-suffering viewers,” Ackland said.
“And to those who complained about my line of questioning, everyone, of course, is entitled to their own opinion, but I would point out I wasn’t questioning Miss Hanson about opinions, but about her so-called facts,” Martin said.
“The viewer’s reaction was entirely predictable, as her minders knew from the response to a Lateline interview a year ago. Maxine McKew also thought Pauline would be easy pickings,” Ackland said.
“Let me tell you what the figures are today, and that is that Asians make up less than five per cent of our population. Now, how can that amount to us being swamped?” McKew asked Hanson on May 8, 1997.
“Because I don’t believe those figures are the true figures,” Hanson responded.
“Well, hang on just a moment. We don’t engage in fantasy on these – on this – program, I haven’t made that up. That is a figure [that] you’ve just quoted figures that have gone to the immigration department. They are immigration department figures; they are [Australian] Bureau of Statistics figures. Okay?” McKew tells Hanson.
“Like Uncle Ray, Maxine also thought it necessary to defend herself against viewer outrage,” Ackland said.
“Many viewers called up afterwards, saying I was a bit of a smarty pants. [recalls McKew] But I was simply presenting the real statistics,” McKew said.
“What Maxine [McKew] had not reckoned with was that other people’s statistics don’t affect this grassroots populism. She believes the interview turned the tide of opinion about Ms Hanson. “She had a bloody easy ride. And that was a turning point … “
“Deary me. But, of course, what should have sunk in by now was that a large number of Australians preferred Pauline to the likes of the Maxines and Uncle Rays of the world. Journalists, to most of the community, are akin to pariahs, also known affectionally these days as ‘the elites’. Former Pauline adviser John Pasquarelli knew precisely of the nature of the game played with the media,” Ackland stated on Media Watch.
“The more she was vilified, the more I saw her support grow,” Mr Pasquarelli said.
“This equation did not concern the cartoonists, who had a terrific time, depicting her variously as Dr Frankenstein’s monster and a tumour sprouting from John Howard’s back,” Ackland said.
“I was hoping it would just go away,” (Cartoon in Australian Financial Review).
“I see a sandwich short of a picnic, a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock, a sausage short of a barbecue and a screw loose … ” (Cartoon in The Daily Telegraph).
“And some of the reporters were out in the field just before the Queensland [state] election, giving the decent folk from One Nation a chance to speak for themselves,” Ackland said.
“So, One Nation doesn’t believe in the separation of powers?”
“How do you mean?” (A Current Affair, June 7, 1998)
“What about the Queensland health budget, how big is that?”
“The Queensland health budget, at the moment, um, no, I’m not going to quote numbers.”
“But shouldn’t you know these things?” a reporter asked a Queensland One Nation candidate.
“But, I’m just telling you [that] I’m not going to quote numbers.”
“Do you know how many school teachers there are?” another journalist asked a Queensland One Nation candidate.
“No. I have to be honest about that.”
“What about the annual budget of the Queensland Education Department?” a journalist asks a One Nation candidate.
“No, I don’t know” the One Nation candidate responded.
“But aren’t all these things things you should know if you’re going to be the official spokesperson?”
“No, I don’t think so,” the One Nation candidate responded.
“Do you detect slightly more warmth towards our heroine post-election?” Ackland asks viewers.
“Do you think they’re [voters] are fed up with politicians generally. ‘Pollie speak’ and non-core promises and all that sort of thing?” 60 Minutes asks Ms Hanson on June 14, 1998.
“It’s all part of it. Yes, it is. You see, they don’t trust politicians and …” Hanson responded.
“Why should they trust you? Why are you different?” the 60 Minutes journalist asks Ms Hanson.
“Well, I think you should go and ask the people of Queensland, why do they look at me as being different?” Hanson responded.
“Asked by the Herald Sun if she believed she could move into The Lodge, the One Nation leader said ‘Yes’ ” Hanson told a Herald Sun journalist.
“No wonder she believes anything is possible,” Ackland retorted.
“The polls show the coalition’s primary vote has fallen to 35 per cent, with Labor steady on 39.5 per cent and One Nation at an all-time high of 14.5 per cent,” ABC News reported on June 21, 1998.
“We can’t wait for the next campaign. Good night and sleep tight,” as Ackland signs off Media Watch for the week in June 1998.
“Sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims? If jihad is ever called, and people must understand this. Go and research. Go and understand about this. And the ones that will suffer, as those Jews did, on that, you know, when they were murdered and slaughtered and that’s what we’ve got to realise could happen,” Ms Hanson said.
“Sky News’ [now News24] Sharri Markson did attempt to force a sanity pill upon her guest,” Media Watch host Linton Besser said on February 23, 2026.
“Ah, a lot of moderate Muslims in Australia, who are, as you put it, ‘good Muslims’,” Markson said.
“And offered one to her audience too,” Mr Besser said.
“I don’t support what Pauline Hanson just said. Of course, I believe the vast majority of Australian Muslims do agree with our values,” Markson said on the Murdoch-owned Sky News.
“Thirty-six hours later, Ms Hanson told the ABC she ‘was sorry’.”
“If I’ve offended anyone out there that doesn’t believe in the Sharia law or multiple marriages, or wants to bring ISIS brides, or people from Gaza who believes in the caliphate and all the rest of it, then I apologise to you for my comment. But, in general, that’s what they want, a world caliphate. And I’m not going to apologise for the fact. I will have my say now, before it’s too late,” Ms Hanson said.
“Having her say has never been an issue for the one-time peddler of fish and chips from Ipswich. Who, after decades in the public eye is now one of our most enduring politicians and one the media has always struggled to get a handle on ” Mr Besser said.
“Are you xenophobic?” Hanson was asked, to which she responded with her most famous quote …
“Please explain.”
“Over the decades, Pauline Hanson has capitalised on this ‘outsider’ status, while making clear to her supporters who is us and who is ‘them’ in a long campaign – of what else to call it – bigotry which has evolved in so far as which people she prefers to pillory,” Mr Besser said.
“I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians,” Hanson said in Federal Parliament last century.
“Now we are in danger of being swamped by Muslims,” Ms Hanson now says in 2026.
“Featuring delightful reruns of old and rather predictable stunts. Pauline Hanson, it might be worth remembering, has had a colourful career, from fearing for her life,” Mr Besser said on Media Watch.
“Fellow Australians, if you are seeing me now, it means I have been murdered,” Ms Hanson says in a YouTube video.
“Pauline Hanson has learned how to avoid the tough questions,” Mr Besser states.
“These question marks hanging over the funding that you have received over the years. What has happened to this money?” Seven News journalist Laura Turner asks Ms Hanson.
“Laura, you can go and do your interview, because this is just going over and over questions,” Ms Hanson responds as she storms off set.
“But these are the things people want to know about,” Ms Turner states as Ms Hanson continues storming off set.
“Thanks to the splintering of the coalition and the shattering of the Liberal Party’s sense of mission, One Nation is now sitting pretty, bolstered by a high-profile defection and a Trumpian trade wind at its back,” Mr Besser states.
“But with this new-found popularity comes greater responsibilities, not just for One Nation, but for the media watching on. The former Sydney Morning Herald journalist who documented Hanson’s early political career urged the press to ignite the blowtorch,” Mr Besser said.
“Pauline Hanson is unchanged. She has no grasp of policy and can not cope with actual scrutiny. It’s time for brave press gallery journos to engage with her and step up on policy questions.”
“Long-time political observer, Barrie Cassidy, says Hanson’s rhetoric should be more readily contested.”
“Sometimes, the media think claims are so self-evidently ridiculous and wrong that they don’t need correction. That can’t be the mindset. Faslehoods need to be corrected at the time and in subsequent reporting,” Mr Cassidy said.
“The media has, from time to time, risen to the occasion, including this notable moment from Sky News [now News24] commentator, Chris Kenny.
“Where are your policy’s for government,” Mr Kenny asks as Ms Hanson interjects.
“Go look at the [One Nation] website Chris. Have a look at our policies. All up on the website,” Ms Hanson states.
“What is my point? If you’re going to portray yourself as a party of government you need more of that detail out there.
“But it’s no good getting defensive about me asking some questions about this policy details. There’s just going to be a lot more of this in the next two yuears. That comes with territory of polling at 26 per cent,” Mr Kenny said.
“A chapo also to Seven [News] Laura Turner, who pressed One Nation’s leader on immigration.”
“Questioned on Victorian multiculturalism, Pauline Hanson sees red,” Ms Turner states.
“Why do you have to bury your head in the sand.
“Anyway, thank you,” as Ms Hanson, once again storms of set, mid-interview.
“But there have also been times when Hanson’s claims have gone unchallenged,” Mr Besser said.
“About 20 per cent of our water in Australia is actually foreign-owned and it should never have happened,” Ms Hanson told Ten News Plus.
“Pauline’s claim was wrong. Off by almost six times the volume of Sydney Harbour. But how could have Ten’s host known that in the moment? As his editor explained to Media Watch.”
“Fact-checking is very challenging, especially when the subject quotes obscure stats or facts, the kind that are outside the area you’d normally prepare or research for. Best efforts are made to verify information live on air,” Martin White, Vice President (News) of Paramount [Channel Ten] Australia said.
“Then there was this Hanson ‘factoid’ spouted during a live interview about migration into Britain.”
“The main thing that’s happening in England is they’re angry with the mass migration which in the last year they’ve had nearly 200,000 ‘illegals’ enter the country,” Ms Hanson told Tom Elliott on 3AW Mornings.
“In fact, it’s less than a quarter of that amount, but, again, 3AW could not have been armed for the live rebuttal.
“Ten days ago, Pauline Hanson was drawn into a local Queensland debate about abortion,” Mr Besser states on Media Watch.
“The abortion issue is very important to a lot of Australians, and, um, I’ve actually had my concerns about it greatly,” Ms Hanson said.
“Her remarks written up very diligently in the Brisbane Times.”
“The abortion issue is very important to a lot of Australians, and I’ve actually had my concerns about it greatly,” Hanson told reporters.
“But was that all she said?” Besser asks.
“When you can have an abortion up to the day before the birth of the child it is great concern to a lot of Australians and, um, especially to see those children are still alive after an abortion and left to die without any help or assistance. What have we come to in this country?” Ms Hanson states.
“The Brisbane Times omitted Hanson’s inflammatory distortion, not to make her contribution more palatble we’re [Media Watch] told, but because the reporter was focused on a local Queensland angle. But the outlet’s boss did tell us … “
“As a rule though, it’s appropriate that a party leader who now outstrips the coalition in the polls is questioned on any public statement,” Luke McIlveen, Executive Editor of The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WA Today said.
“Having watched more than a decade of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage profit handsomely from sprouting double talk overseas, surely our press pack here knows what’s at stake if it fails to hold a resurgent One Nation to account for the fabrications and the fallacies it has so successfully weaponised in years past and likely hopes to again.”
VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1552030688474707.
TRANSCRIPTION: Manually transcribed from the video. No AI or transcription from the video was used.
