Greens senator accuses Pauline Hanson of being ‘old’

A Greens senator invoked the name of U.S. rapper Macklemore to accuse Pauline Hanson of being ‘grumpy’ and old after she called for the voting age to be lifted to 21.

Sarah Hanson-Young’s clash with the One Nation leader escalated when Senator Hanson said the voting age should be raised from 18 for the first time since 1973.

Senator Hanson, who is 63, accused the Greens of ‘brainwashing the kids in schools’ to vote for the Greens.

Controversial American rapper Macklemore performed Same Love at rugby league Grand Final

‘They don’t have any idea. They’ve never held a job. They’ve never paid taxes,’ she told Sunrise on Monday.

‘They have no understanding of politics. And you want to reduce it because you’re picking up the Green vote because they have no idea.’

Senator Hanson-Young, whose party wants the voting age reduced to 16, invoked the name of American rapper Macklemore to accuse Senator Hanson of being ‘out of touch’ with young people. 

 ‘I can hear Macklemore now. Grumpy, old views,’ the 35-year-old senator said, tapping her right ear.

Pauline Hanson (left) said Sarah Hanson Young’s Greens party sought to ‘brainwash’ schoolkids

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says the smoking and voting ages should both rise to 21

The controversial rapper, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, performed his pro-gay marriage hit Same Love at the rugby league Grand Final in Sydney on Sunday.

Senator Hanson had called for the voting age to be lifted after billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest advocated a lift in the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 as part of a cancer-fighting plan he had developed with his wife Nicola. 

The Fortescue Metals Group boss is funding the Eliminate Cancer Initiative through his philanthropic Minderoo Foundation.

Australia’s voting age has been set at 18 since former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam’s government reduced it from 21 in 1973.