Pauline Hanson has fired back at a critic on social media by giving her a basic spelling lesson.
The drama unfolded when the One Nation senator posted a ‘welcome to country’ survey on her Facebook page asking respondents to give their views on the ceremonies.
The survey appears to have been sparked by the senator’s controversial walk-out on Wednesday as an acknowledgement of country was read out by Senate President Sue Lines.
After sharing her survey on Facebook, Senator Hanson’s post attracted the attention of one woman who claimed the ‘division’ would end once she left politics.
Senator Hanson (pictured) gave one of her critics a basic lesson in spelling on a Facebook post following her controversial walkout on Wednesday
‘The division will stop when Pauline Hanson looses (sic) her seat at the next federal election,’ she wrote.
‘She only hung on by a thread this time around.’
The One Nation leader responded by taking the woman’s comment apart and teaching her how to spell.
‘Let me give you a small lesson for future posts,’ Ms Hanson began. ‘Think of the word goose when you write the word loose.’
‘If you’re hoping I am defeated in six years at the next election, it’s L-O-S-E.
‘With lessons like these, you would have received a ribbon at the spelling bee all those years ago,’ she added.
Her response was liked more than 3,000 times, with respondents largely agreeing with the senator or lambasting the woman’s spelling error.
Senator Hanson then went a step further, explaining that there needed to be an ‘overhaul’ of the education system in the country so people can learn how to do the ‘basics’.
‘I have been calling for an overhaul of our education system since being back in the parliament.
‘The focus needs to return to the basics in reading, writing and math.’
She claimed that the education system ‘has shifted too far to the left over the past decade or more’.
The One Nation leader pointed out the woman’s spelling error and taught her a simple way to spell ‘loses’
Senator Hanson sparked controversy once again on Wednesday when she angrily left the Senate during the opening acknowledgement.
Senate President Sue Lines acknowledged the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people as traditional custodians of the Canberra area and paid respect to elders past and present at the opening of parliament.
But the One Nation leader interjected, yelling ‘no, I won’t and never will’, before storming out of the chamber in a huff.
She later said she could not accept the welcome to country or a proposal to be moved later in the day that would raise the indigenous flag in the Senate chamber.
‘I’ve been feeling this way for a long time,’ she said.
‘I have called from the first day for equality for all Australians. I see this as divisive.’
She said if anyone needed acknowledgement it was ‘our people that have fought for this country. People who have sacrificed their lives.’
Senator Hanson added the Indigenous flag had ‘never been voted on’.
‘I will never pay respect to (the flag). I find this flag divisive,’ she said.
She also criticised the acknowledgement to country being so widespread.
‘We are now hearing it on flights and aeroplanes. I’m sorry – this is my country as well.
‘This is heading towards division in our nation. A them and us. And we’ll never close the gap if we continue down this path. All Australians should be treated equally and the same.’
Senator Hanson angrily left the Senate chamber during the opening acknowledgement to country after dismissing its validity
Indigenous Greens’ senator Lidia Thorpe called Senator Hanson racist and her actions ‘disrespectful’ to the Parliament and Aboriginal Australians.
‘Pauline Hanson, you are ignorant and you are racist,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘Day two of the 47th Parliament and racism has reared its ugly head.
‘Pauline Hanson disrespectfully stormed out of the acknowledgement of country in the Senate, refusing to acknowledge “those people”.
‘You want to make parliament safe? Get rid of racism.’
Senator Hanson quickly fired back on her own Twitter, calling out Senator Thorpe’s own controversial views.
‘Says the “infiltrator” who with her racially divisive agenda doesn’t even recognise the legitimacy of our Constitution or Parliament,’ she wrote.
Senator Thorpe on Tuesday mocked The Queen, who is referenced in the swearing in ceremony all MPs underwent on Tuesday.
‘Not every politician swore allegiance to the colonising Queen of England today lol,’ she wrote.
Senator Hanson interjected, yelling ‘no, I won’t and never will’, before exiting the chamber
Indigenous Greens’ senator Lidia Thorpe called Senator Hanson racist and her action ‘disrespectful’
Senator Hanson followed up her outburst by claiming welcome to country ceremonies ‘perpetuate racial division’.
‘From this point forward, Senator Hanson will refuse to acknowledge country in the Senate,’ her office said.
‘Senator Hanson will also oppose a motion in the Senate today for the Aboriginal flag to be displayed in the Senate. Senator Hanson considers that only one flag, the Australian national flag, truly represents all Australians.’
She claimed acknowledgements were not ‘any sort of indigenous Australian tradition’, given that at most it has only been in use for the past 25 years and in Parliament only 12 years’.
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