One Nation leaders have been exposed in a second damning video discussing covert plans with American gun lobbyists to legalise assault rifles in Australia.
Senator Pauline Hanson, chief-of-staff James Ashby and Queensland leader Steve Dickson were secretly filmed during controversial talks with pro-gun groups in part two of Al Jazeera documentary, How to Sell a Massacre.
Over the course of numerous dinners and meetings last year, Mr Dickson and Mr Ashby are heard strategising how to secure funds to ultimately repeal the National Firearm Agreement of 1996.
Mr Dickson is also filmed discussing his love for ‘gun porn’ and calling shooting ‘a great thing.’
During a conversation at a bar with undercover journalist Rodger Muller, Mr Ashby mentions getting cosy with America’s NRA and his hopes to get his hands on the gun group’s technology as well as political donations.
Senator Pauline Hanson, chief-of-staff James Ashby (left) and Queensland leader Steve Dickson (centre) were secretly filmed during controversial talks with pro-gun groups
Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson (left and centre) spoke at length with undercover journalist Rodger Muller (right) about securing financial support from America’s NRA
‘If the NRA want to rally their supporters within Australia, that’s one start. Two, I’d love to get my hands on their software. Three, if they can help us with donations…super,’ he says.
Mr Dickson is then heard fantasising about using funds to hire a beach mansion to live like a drug lord with an arsenal of guns.
‘I’m going to be in one of those drug-dealing mansions on the beach. I’ll hire it for a month. You know the ones that are 25 rooms and the chef and everything,’ he says.
‘We’ll drink and shoot the s**t of everything down the water. Machine guns and everything. That’s my dream.’
‘And we can protect ourselves, just in case,’ he adds.
The damning footage is the latest blow to the One Nation Party which has come under fire after clips emerged earlier this week of Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson asking the NRA for millions of dollars and describing gun control as ‘poison.’
The two party officials claimed to have been ‘on the sauce,’ saying they made the remarks after drinking scotch for ‘four hours’.
Ms Hanson was also dragged into the scandal after she was secretly recorded appearing to suggest the Port Arthur shooting was a conspiracy to tighten gun laws in the country.
Mr Dickson (pictured) fantasised about using funds from American pro-gun groups to hire a beach mansion and live like a drug lord with an arsenal of guns
The three party officials have claimed the videos were heavily edited and taken out of context, with Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson insisting they never met with any ‘potential donors.’
The new footage however, shows Mr Dickson and Mr Ashby mingling with numerous American pro-gun lobbyists at various events and discussing ways to win over the Australian people including pandering to women.
‘It’s like Vegemite. You don’t put a f***ing bundle of the s** on the toast. A light smear first. Get them used to them flavour,’ Mr Ashby says.
‘You need to soften people back up again. And part of it will be, let’s start looking at women’s shooting range programmes, self-defence programmes, whatever those things might be.’
In another occasion, Mr Dickson reveals the process of repealing the firearms act will be a gradual one by whittling down the law bit by bit.
Damning footage shows Mr Dickson (centre) and Mr Ashby (left) mingling with numerous American pro-gun lobbyists, while discussing ways to win over the Australian people
‘We need to take a piece of bread we know we can get, that’s safe. We can do something with it, then we can get another piece of bread and end up with the whole loaf,’ he says.
He tells lobbyists that killing the law is like ‘inoculating against a disease.’
‘If I said that to the public I’d probably lose everything I’ve ever worked for my whole life, but that’s the truth,’ he says.
Throughout the documentary, Mr Dickson is heard bemoaning the loss of his firearms due to the 1996 legislation.
The law was passed in response to the country’s deadliest mass shooting and was implemented just 12 days after the attack.
During a visit to an American gun shop, the party leader is heard complaining about losing his guns, describing the implementation of the law as ‘a bad time for us’ and ‘like hell on earth.’
He is later recorded saying: ‘Mate my f***ng guns got burned in that fire. I’m still angry about it.’
He recalled growing up with a ‘gun above every door in our house’ and being able to own the now-banned semi-automatic weapons.
Ms Hanson was dragged into the scandal after she was secretly recorded appearing to suggest the Port Arthur shooting was a conspiracy to tighten gun laws
In another clip, Mr Dickson is seen giving an enthusiastic tour of the NRA museum in Virginia while encouraging Australia’s youth to take up shooting as a sport.
‘Shooting’s not a bad thing, it’s a great thing. And today in Australia we use it in the Olympics….and we should be enticing young people to learn how to shoot, it’s a great sport,’ he says.
Although One Nation has claimed they never intended to collect any political donations, the two men are filmed discussing how much money they were planning to ask from Koch Industries, an American company whose founders have donated millions to conservative causes.
When Mr Muller asks for a figure, Mr Dickson replies: ‘I’m thinking ten (million).’
Mr Ashby the interjects saying: ‘No, I was thinking twenty.’
Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson were unaware they were being recorded throughout the entire trip and before their meeting, Mr Ashby, ironically, warns Mr Muller to be wary of anything he says or write, telling him to ‘be prepared to read it on the front page of the paper.’
Mr Dickson is filmed giving his pitch promising to change the system as long as they can secure the money.
Senator Hanson said her comments had been ‘taken out of context’ when she fronted media on Thursday following the release of part one of the Al Jazeera documentary
‘We’ve got the people, we’ve got the momentum. We’ve got Senator Pauline Hanson she’s the most recognised person, not only in politics but as a person in our country,’ he says.
When a woman in the meeting says she’s unfamiliar with Australia’s campaign finance laws, Mr Ashby explains there are no limits on donations but says anything over $13,000 in a federal election must be reported.
Ironically, ten weeks after that meeting, the Australian Senate voted to ban foreign political donations, with Senator Hanson voting in favour.
The two party leaders were also recorded discussing steps to make sure they were properly covering their tracks by finding ways to funnel the money to Australia from the NRA.
‘If he [Mr Muller] gets money and starts donating to us, they’re just gonna jump on you. The electoral commission will just come at you going, “We’re doing a full audit. Where’s the money coming from?” Mr Dickson says during a meeting.
‘It will take them five seconds to find out it’s coming from the NRA.’
He then suggests using tactics used by the Koch brothers who allegedly use methods that make it ‘impossible’ to track the source of the funds.
Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson’s remarks suggest the two were taking precaution in order to avoid an election scandal similar to America’s election meddling allegations.
Mr Ashby revealed he keeps a personal email account to conduct private business.
‘I always keep a private email and I keep a work email. Because work emails are never private. They can be subpoenaed like that. It’s something that you learn real fast. As Steve said, monitor everything that you write. Write it as though the whole world would read it,’ he tells Mr Muller.
During a visit to an American gun shop, Mr Dickson complained about losing his guns, describing the implementation of the law as ‘a bad time for us’ and ‘like hell on earth’