One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has emerged in public for the first time since a tick bit her face, and following an outcry over her suggestion the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy.
The Queensland senator and party founder was photographed by Daily Mail Australia leaving her Coleyville hobby farm, south-west of Ipswich in Queensland, on Thursday morning.
A stern-looking MP was seen driving her white Toyota LandCruiser Prado four-wheel drive down her driveway as she prepared to front a media conference in Brisbane to answer questions about the One Nation gun scandal.
Senator Hanson cancelled her public appearances on Wednesday after a tick bit her face, causing it to swell and make her look ‘unrecognisable’.
The One Nation founder left her rural home as Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed to put her party behind Labor on how-to-vote cards, claiming her stance on Australia’s worst ever gun massacre were the last straw.
‘The comments, particularly last night, and the linkages to Port Arthur, I’m sure all Australians would be shocked about. I was shocked by them,’ he told reporters.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has emerged in public for the first time since a tick bit her face
Senator Hanson is furious at the Qatar-government owned Al Jazeera network going under cover for three years to film herself, her chief-of-staff James Ashby and her party’s Queensland leader Steve Dickson.
Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson were secretly videoed talking about receiving $20 million from the American National Rifle Association, as part of a documentary How To Sell A Massacre which the ABC has aired this week.
Hidden camera footage, released by Al Jazeera as part of an undercover operation, showed Senator Hanson saying she had ‘a lot of questions’ about the 1996 Port Arthur, which saw 35 people shot dead.
‘An MP said it would actually take a massacre in Tasmania to change the gun laws in Australia,’ Senator Hanson told Al Jazeera reporter Rodger Muller, who had posed as the founder of the non-existent Gun Rights Australia lobby group.
The Queensland senator and party founder was photographed by Daily Mail Australia leaving her Coleyville hobby farm, south-west of Ipswich in Queensland, on Thursday morning
‘Haven’t you heard that? Have a look at it. It was said on the floor of parliament.
‘I’ve read a lot and I have read the book on it, Port Arthur. A lot of questions there.’
In 1987, months before losing an election, former New South Wales Labor premier Barrie Unsworth prophetically predicted it would take carnage in Tasmania before Australia had national gun laws.
‘It will take a massacre in Tasmania before we get gun law reform in Australia,’ he told a Premiers’ conference, after other leaders rejected his policy idea.
One Nation’s New South Wales leader Mark Latham said the comments didn’t match up with his exchanges with Senator Hanson.
She was seen driving her Toyota LandCruiser Prado four-wheel drive down her driveway as she prepared to front a media conference in Brisbane to answer questions about the One Nation gun scandal
‘I had a discussion with her about the making of the Howard gun laws and she didn’t raise any doubts about the veracity of the truth of what happened at Port Arthur,’ he told Seven’s Sunrise on Thursday.
Another of Al Jazeera’s videos showed Queensland One Nation leader Steve Dickson and Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby speaking to the undercover reporter about potential donations.
The men claim they were ‘on the sauce’ when the conversation took place.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said being drunk was no excuse and has urged Australians to abandon the conservative minor party.
In the Al Jazeera footage, Mr Dickson says One Nation could get the government ‘by the balls’ through holding the balance of power in both houses if they could get millions in funding.
Hidden camera footage, released by Al Jazeera as part of an undercover operation, showed Senator Hanson saying she had ‘a lot of questions’ about the 1996 Port Arthur, which saw 35 people shot dead
That would allow them to weaken Australia’s gun laws, a point they raised with powerful lobby groups in Washington DC, including the National Rifle Association.
Senator Hanson broke her silence on Wednesday, saying she was shocked and disgusted with the ‘hit piece’ by Qatari TV network Al Jazeera.
‘A Qatari government organisation should not be targeting Australian political parties. This has been referred to ASIO,’ she tweeted.
The One Nation leader has been suffering from a tick bite on her face for the past week, but is expected to speak publicly on Thursday.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has repeatedly called for the prime minister to back up his condemnation of One Nation by putting them last on Liberal how-to-vote cards.
Mr Morrison has consistently said the Liberals will wait until final nominations before deciding on its preferences.
Mr Ashby said the pair spoke only with undercover Al Jazeera reporter Rodger Muller about the potential $US20 million in donations.
Mr Muller posed as the head of fake lobby group Guns Rights Australia and initiated the One Nation meetings with the NRA.
Mr Ashby accused Mr Muller, who is Australian, of being a ‘Middle Eastern spy’.