Pauline Hanson is an Australian politician, founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party.
She has been a senator for Queensland since 2016 and is known for her controversial views on race, immigration, multiculturalism, Islam and climate change.
Many media outlets have called her “flame,” One “eccentric,” and a “nationalist,” and she received both support and criticism from the public.
File
- Full Name: Pauline Lee Hanson
- Date of birth: May 27, 1954
- Age: 70 years old
- Gender: Female
- Place of birth: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Nationality: Australian
- Occupation: Politician
- Height: 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
- Parents: Jack Seccombe (father) and Norah Seccombe (mother)
- Siblings: Four brothers and two sisters
- Spouse: Walter Zagorski (1971-1987), Mark Hanson (1988-1999)
- Children: Anthony Zagorski, Steven Zagorski, Adam Zagorski and Lee Zagorski
- Relationship status: Single
- Net worth: $2 million
Early life and education
Pauline Hanson, now 70 years old, was born on May 27, 1954 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
She was the fifth of seven children of Jack Seccombe, a soldier and coal miner, and Norah Seccombe, an office worker and shop assistant.
She grew up in a working-class family and lived in various Brisbane suburbs. She attended Buranda Girls’ School and Coorparoo Primary School but left school at 15 to work a variety of jobs, including factory worker, bartender and sandwich maker.
Personal life
Pauline Hanson has been married twice and has four children from her first marriage. She married Polish immigrant Walter Zagorski in 1971 and has two sons, Anthony and Steven, and two daughters, Adam and Lee.
They divorced in 1987 after 16 years of marriage. She married Mark Hanson, a craftsman, in 1988 and together they ran a fish and chip shop in Ipswich, Queensland.
They separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999. She has also had a number of relationships with other men, including David Oldfield, former co-founder of One Nation, and David Taylor, former adviser to One Nation. She is single and lives on a rural property near Boonah, Queensland.
Career
Pauline Hanson entered politics in 1994 as a member of the Ipswich City Council in Queensland. She joined the Liberal Party in 1995 and was elected to the House of Representatives for the Division of Oxley in 1996, but was disqualified from the party shortly before the election for making controversial comments about Indigenous Australians.
She gave her first speech in 1996, in which she said Australia was in danger of being overrun by Asians and called for an end to multiculturalism and special treatment for Indigenous Australians.
She co-founded One Nation in 1997 and became the party’s sole MP. She lost her seat in 1998 and has been unsuccessful in numerous elections as leader or candidate for One Nation or other parties.
She returned to the Senate in 2016 and has led One Nation since. She has supported policies such as reducing immigration, banning Muslim immigration and the burqa, withdrawing from the United Nations, abolishing the Family Court and opposing same-sex marriage and action on climate change.
Prize
Pauline Hanson has not received any major awards for her political career, but she has been nominated for a number of awards, such as:
- Australian of the Year Award in 1997, 1998 and 2017, but did not win.
- Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2017 for her undercover investigation into the ABC, but did not win.
- Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Australian Television Personality in 2018 for her appearance on the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars, but she did not win.
Net worth
According to various sources, Pauline Hanson’s net worth is estimated to be around $2 million.
Argumentative
Pauline Hanson has been involved in many controversies throughout her political career, mainly because of her views on race, immigration, multiculturalism, Islam and climate change.
Some of her most controversial moments include:
- Her first speech was in 1996, in which she said Australia was in danger of being overrun by Asians and called for an end to multiculturalism and special treatment for Indigenous Australians.
- She wore a burqa in the Senate in 2017, where she mocked Muslim customs and called for a ban on the religious garment, citing national security concerns.
- She walked out of the 2022 Senate Acknowledgement Ceremony, where she intervened and refused to acknowledge Indigenous land in Australia, saying it belonged to her as much as any other Australian.
- Her 2003 election fraud conviction, in which she was found guilty of falsely claiming hundreds of people were One Nation members when they were not, resulted in a three-year prison sentence, but her conviction was later quashed by the Queensland Court of Appeal.
- She posted a cartoon in 2022 in which she spread false claims about electoral fraud in Australia and accused the Australian Electoral Commission of vote rigging. The AEC warned her to remove the video or face legal action.
Social media
- Twitter: @PaulineHansonOz
- Instagram: @senatorpaulinehanson
- YouTube: Please Explain by Pauline Hanson
List of movies played
Pauline Hanson has appeared in a number of films and television shows, either as herself or as a character, such as:
- Pauline Hanson: Please Explain! (2016), a documentary about her life and career.
- Dancing with the Stars (2018), a reality television show in which she participated as a celebrity dancer.
- The Simpsons (2019), an animated comedy series in which she is parodied as a character named Paula Horne.
- The Masked Singer (2020), a reality television show in which she was revealed to be the celebrity behind the Dragon costume.
- Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) is a comedy film in which Sacha Baron Cohen pranks her while playing Borat.
