The evolution of Pauline Hanson

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Evolution of Pauline Hanson

Podcast: 7am
Host: Ruby Jones (Solstice Media)
Guest: Margot Kingston
Date: July 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the political journey and enduring appeal of Pauline Hanson, one of Australia’s most prominent and polarizing political figures. Long-time political journalist Margot Kingston joins host Ruby Jones to dissect how Hanson's rhetoric, political tactics, and personal story have shaped One Nation’s fortunes from its chaotic inception in the 1990s to its renewed vigor in the social media age of 2026. The discussion explores the rise, resilience, and possible future of both Hanson and her party, and weighs the implications for Australian democracy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hanson's Meteoric Rise and Political Origins

• Initial Obscurity and Breakthrough:
  • Six weeks before her initial fame, "hardly anyone had ever heard of Pauline Hanson." (Margot Kingston, 00:03)
  • Hanson’s controversial statements about immigration and Indigenous Australians rapidly propelled her into the national spotlight.
• Party Disendorsement:
  • John Howard’s Liberal Party disendorsed her after racist remarks ("...the Queensland party organisation withdrew her endorsement..." Kingston, 02:25).
  • Despite isolation and lack of institutional support, Hanson won the biggest swing in the nation during the 1996 election, capturing a safe Labor seat.

2. The One Nation Phenomenon and Hanson’s Celebrity

• Cult-like Support in Rural Australia:
  • Kingston recounts a 1998 campaign stop in Malanda where the entire town turned up, with supporters wanting her autograph for tattoos (00:33).
• Transition to Celebrity:
  • After being jailed for electoral fraud in 2003 (which was later overturned), Hanson's transformation from political pariah to folk hero was cemented. Her personal story of "unfair victimhood" resonated deeply, with public sympathy spanning political divides (06:36).
  • Kingston notes: “Left and right came together and said, that is not fair. The big parties get away with everything.” (06:36)
  • Hanson became a media fixture via “Dancing with the Stars,” “This Is Your Life,” and regular television appearances.

3. Political Rhetoric and Enduring Messages

• Consistency of Message Across Decades:
  • Hanson’s core lines largely unchanged: "I'm trying to say let's clean up our own backyard and look after our own here before we worry about everyone else overseas." (Hanson, 05:16)
• Hands-On, Self-Made Persona:
  • Seen as a “work her fingers to the bone small businesswoman,” but Kingston points out a “very narrow small business mind,” lacking empathy for those who struggle (07:45).
• Policy Simplicity and Populist Themes:
  • Her skepticism of government handouts and opposition to "privileges" for minorities remains a rallying cry (08:40).

4. Evolution in Political Strategy

• From Chaos to Controlled Organization:
  • In the 1990s, One Nation was "very new... a mess" and organizationally weak (05:45).
  • Today, the party is better funded (including substantial support from Gina Rinehart), more professionalized, and tightly controlled via non-disclosure agreements and gag orders (10:00).
  • Kingston references a recent Guardian scoop: "In April, they sent out a memo... NDAs, non-disclosure agreements if you're unhappy and leave, no branch social media. No one talks to the media." (10:00)
• Weaponization of Social Media:
  • Unlike the 1990s, Hanson’s social media presence is formidable, helping her bypass conventional media scrutiny and reach directly into political “bubbles” (09:01, 11:18).

5. The New Media Landscape & Accountability Challenges

• Diminished Accountability:
  • Hanson has learned to exclude the "accountability media," knowing she can connect with her base without press scrutiny (11:18).
  • Kingston warns: “It is our duty to meet that threat with creativity. We're going to have to find a way next federal election to have some form of collective action to be able to properly scrutinize her.” (11:43)

6. One Nation's Electoral Fortunes and Prospects

• Current Political Dynamics:
  • One Nation polling strongly even in unexpected places like Victoria, as “the Labor government is tired and hopeless and the Liberal Party is just riven by internal disputes.” (12:49)
  • The party’s messaging around persecution and resilience (especially the jailing episode) remains central to its branding (13:10).
• Addressing Voter Disaffection:
  • Kingston emphasizes that widespread disillusionment with major parties, housing unaffordability, and growing inequality are fueling One Nation’s appeal. "If the Australian dream dies, people are going to get pretty pissed off, aren't they?" (14:50)
• Future Trajectory:
  • Margot Kingston is skeptical Hanson could ever become Prime Minister but acknowledges One Nation's potential to win a significant number of seats and possibly become opposition leader, especially with current polling trends (15:16, 15:33).
  • There are serious concerns about the international ramifications of Hanson’s rhetoric, particularly regarding Asia and Muslims.

7. The Hanson–One Nation Personal Brand

• A “Cult” of Personality:
  • "Pauline Hanson is One Nation and One Nation is nothing without her." (Kingston, 17:56)
  • Hanson’s personal narrative now entirely overlaps with the party’s fortunes: If she falls, the party likely falls with her.
• Trump-like Parallels:
  • Kingston likens One Nation’s internal culture and devotion to its leader to Trumpism in the US.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the rise to archetype:
  • “She became not just a political figure, but an archetype—an Australian archetype.”
    — Margot Kingston (05:45)
• On the power of narrative:
  • "Here is a woman who got jailed for her beliefs and has come back."
    — Margot Kingston, describing the core campaign video (13:15)
• On media exclusion:
  • "Now she knows she doesn’t need us. So it is an enormous challenge for the accountability media about how to cover her."
    — Margot Kingston (11:18)
• On the dangers of divisive rhetoric:
  • "If you've got an opposition leader who says there's no such thing as a good Muslim... it's incredibly dangerous. Even in a coalition, as the junior partner, it is extremely dangerous for our future."
    — Margot Kingston (15:33)
• On the indivisible link between Hanson and One Nation:
  • "Pauline Hanson is One nation and... One Nation is nothing without her... it really is cult-like, sort of Trump-like in that way."
    — Margot Kingston (17:56)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:03–00:33: Hanson's 1990s rise and instant celebrity
• 02:10–03:13: Hanson's entry into politics, party disendorsement
• 04:48–05:45: Consistency of Hanson's messaging and parallels across decades
• 06:19–07:12: The impact of Hanson's jailing and resulting celebrity status
• 09:01–09:45: The role of social media and increased funding
• 10:00–11:15: Introduction of gag orders and tighter party discipline
• 11:15–11:45: The accountability challenge for the media
• 12:49–14:50: Voter disaffection, growth in One Nation’s popularity
• 15:11–15:33: Prospects for One Nation as a political force
• 17:56–18:44: The inseparability of Hanson and One Nation; cult of personality

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Conclusion

This episode offers a compelling exploration of Pauline Hanson's evolution from controversial outsider to enduring, media-savvy political icon. Her consistent rhetoric, mastery of personal narrative, and embrace of new media have allowed her to bypass traditional scrutiny and establish a unique linkage between her personal brand and her party’s viability. The conversation raises questions about electoral accountability in a fractured media environment, the vulnerabilities of major parties, and whether One Nation’s future exists beyond its charismatic founder.

Transcript

[Margot Kingston]

Six weeks ago, hardly anyone had ever heard of Pauline Hanson.

[Pauline Hanson]

I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians between 90 now

[Margot Kingston]

she's the name in just about every

[Pauline Hanson]

radio bulletin, every television newscast and newspaper. I'm not there to keep the bastards honest. I'm there to get rid of the bastards.

[Ruby Jones]

When Pauline Hanson was at the previous peak of her political popularity in the late 90s, one journalist was there chronicling it.

[Margot Kingston]

We could see that the cult was real. I'll never forget going to a little town in Far North Queensland called Malanda and the entire town turned up. There were men there who said, oh, could you please autograph my arm so I can tattoo it?

[Ruby Jones]

Margot Kingston followed Hanson on the 98 campaign trail and has followed her career ever since. Pulled in even when she wanted to walk away. So what do Pauline Hanson's beginnings tell us about her future? And what are the parallels between 1996 and 2026?

[Pauline Hanson]

I am not going anywhere. You must get rid of me. Not you.

[Ruby Jones]

I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7:00am today. Margot Kingston on what Pauline Hanson has come to represent and how she's using her past to fashion her

[Pauline Hanson]

foreign.

[Ruby Jones]

It's Wednesday, July 15th. Margot, hello and welcome to 7:00am Hello, Ruby. It's fantastic to have you on the show and the reason I wanted to speak with you is, I think because for a whole lot of people in Australia, including me, you're one of the first names that comes to mind when you think about people who've spent time with Pauline Hanson. I wondered if you could begin by just taking me back to when you first became aware of her. Of Pauline Hanson the politician.

[Margot Kingston]

Well, obviously the first time I was aware of her I was on the bus with keating in the 1996 election campaign and there was a huge brouhaha over racism because some gnats had called, talked about dewogging ceremonies and, you know, really nasty stuff. And John Howard said, well look, that's the gnats, that's their problem. And then Pauline Hanson wrote a letter to the local paper making various derogatory comments about Aborigines and the push was on and John Howard dis endorsed. We felt that she couldn't carry the Liberal banner. Having made those remarks and with the my support the Queensland party organisation withdrew her endorsement. Do you regret now making sweeping generalisations

[Pauline Hanson]

like Aborigines are a privileged class? No, I said they receive privileges that other people don't receive because of their. Because they're Aboriginal and which is true and you cannot deny that.

[Margot Kingston]

And on the night of the election, she got the biggest swing in the nation in a safe labor seat. And I was chief staff at the Sydney Morning Herald bureau. She was isolated, no one talked to her. She basically didn't even attend Question Time. And then that huge poll came in the middle of the Queensland election in March 1998, and it showed that she was doing really, really well. Something extraordinary happened in Queensland yesterday. A woman who just a week ago the Prime Minister called deranged changed the face of Australian politics at the Queensland elections. Pauline Hanson's One Nation party took around 25% of the vote to win nine, possibly 10 seats, leaving the final. So all of a sudden she came into her own and sort of paraded down the press gallery corridor. And then the Herald said, all right, Margot, go down and do an interview with her, because you've got to take her seriously now. So I wandered down during Question Time. She's sitting on her own, reading a newspaper, and I said, oh, could I interview you about what it would take to support a minority National Party government in Queensland? And she said, oh, well, you've got to, you know, anything goes on. Guns and Abolish Native title. And I'm writing it all down. And at the end she said, margo, I know you think differently to me, but I like you because you say it to my face.

[Ruby Jones]

And I've been watching a lot of the footage from the 90s again of Pauline Hanson at sort of the peak of her popularity, opening one nation branches across the country, the kind of flurry of attention that surrounded her. And I think one of the things that struck me was how similar a lot of what she was saying back then is to what we're hearing today. A lot of the kind of rhetoric, a lot of the lines, the fact that so much of what she says hasn't kind of fundamentally changed.

[Pauline Hanson]

You see, I'm trying to say let's clean up our own backyard and look after our own here before we worry about everyone else overseas. I also believe clean up our own backyard first and when I can put a roof over people's heads, put food on the table for our Australian people and not see the stuff.

[Ruby Jones]

But I wondered what you thought in terms of the kind of support she enjoyed then and how it compares to the support she enjoys now, and what parallels you see politically between those more moments in time.

[Margot Kingston]

Well, One Nation was very new, but they weren't organised at all. So the whole thing was a mess. To me, the thing that transformed her from a failed Candidate to a rolled gold celebrity, really an archetype, an Australian archetype. Was that jailing? 2003, she's jailed for some sort of fraudulent registration, electoral fraud of her party. Tony Abbott was instrumental in getting that to happen.

[Pauline Hanson]

He said he set up the slush fund. He said we had to stop one nation.

[Ruby Jones]

You don't like this man.

[Pauline Hanson]

Heaven help this country if Tony Abbott is ever in control of it. I detest the man.

[Margot Kingston]

And I was doing the Sydney Morning Herald's web diary then and it was just amazing. Left and right came together and say f that that is not fair. The big parties get away with everything. They're destroying the small party and you have her going to jail. That was televised. She comes out, she's got no makeup on, she looks devastated. She was put on suicide watch. It became archetypal, didn't it? Pauline Hanson walked out of Brisbane Women's Prison on Thursday, not only a free

[Ruby Jones]

woman, but cleared of those devastating fraud charges.

[Margot Kingston]

And from there she went to Dancing with the Stars. She did a this is your life. She started doing a weekly seven sunrise and she became a celebrity. Yeah, she's had a dramatic makeover and she is here, right in the studio on the Studio 10. It's Pauline Hanson, everyone. So when the time came in 2015 for her to come back after you know how many God knows how many failed attempts, she was known and her story was known and she was just liked and that meant she was mainstreamed. But the interesting thing about 2015 is that no one in the mainstream media or anywhere else really thought that she had a chance after so many goes. So she got no publicity, but she brought in James Ashby and she ran a Facebook campaign and it was brilliant and she got back in. So when you say she hasn't changed, she hasn't changed in the sense that she is a work away up work her fingers to the bone small businesswoman. But it is a, how do I put it, a very narrow small business mind, which is I made it. You either make it or you fall over. There's no actual empathy for people who haven't been able to make it or who have issues. And that of course came across in the press club.

[Pauline Hanson]

The bloke in the corner store is productive. Does he get subsidies? I speak to struggling farmers everywhere. Do they get subsidies? Does the young 25 year old going out on his own, starting up a business, does he get subsidies? But no.

[Margot Kingston]

And I think, you know, we're all going, how come she got 8% in 2025 and now it's like, whoa. And the main thing I can think of is the social media. She is absolutely all over social media. She's got a very, very strong presence. The movie Once upon a time in so called Australia, a culture war tore the nation apart and somehow the lefties won. And I should know, I'm the Prime Minister. Elbow. And of course, Gina, big, big, big money.

[Ruby Jones]

Let's talk about the difference Gina Rinehart and her money is making because it does seem like one nation, despite its chaos, is a more professional outfit this time around. It's better funded, it's opening branches across the country.

[Margot Kingston]

Well, she gave a clue at the press club when she came back. She decided she wouldn't have any branches because they were filled with extremists. I wonder why. But she's decided now since 2025 that she's going to have branches and she's got new people in who have they banded whatever branches were, and they've got new branches that are very tightly controlled. One of the many incredible scoops that Sarah Martin has written for the Guardian is that in April they sent out a memo to all the branches saying, you're under a gag order, NDAs, non disclosure agreements if you're unhappy and leave no branch social media. No one talks to the media. My opinion about that press club thing, you go, why on earth would she do that? My belief is that she did that so she can say, be there, done that. And she will refuse to have a travelling media pack. And the reason she'll refuse is that she doesn't read, she doesn't understand policy. She is still the same in terms of the mindset and she cannot cope with any scrutiny of policy.

[Ruby Jones]

Do you think that that matters less now than it did in the 90s?

[Margot Kingston]

If she can exclude the accountability media? Of course, in 1998 she knew that she needed us as much as we needed her. Now she knows she doesn't need us. So it is an enormous challenge for the accountability media about how to cover her. So I think this is a revolutionary moment. The time has now come when social media is such and the tribes are such and the bubbles such and the algorithms are such, where our place in the democracy is under threat. And it is our duty to meet that threat with creativity. We're going to have to find a way next federal election to have some form of collective action to be able to properly scrutinise her.

[Ruby Jones]

Still to come, can one nation exist without Pauline Hanson? Margo? There are a lot of opinions on one nation's Popularity right now. The polls went right up. They've gone down now a little. But the first real world test of one nation is going to be in Victoria in a couple of months time. So what is your feeling on where this is headed?

[Margot Kingston]

Isn't it interesting? In 1998, the Age didn't change. Cover her, basically because they said, look, our readers just, you know, they don't want to know about her and et cetera. And she polled at 2 or 3%. Now, why is she polling so strongly in Victoria? Doesn't take much to work out that the labor government is tired and hopeless and that the Liberal Party, you know, which probably should have won the last election of the one before, is just riven by internal disputes. You know, the two major parties are both hopeless. I went to a one nation meeting in Tari in my seat of line, which is very rural and just ripe for the picking. But the whole thing was organised around a 10 minute video of Pauline set to Unstoppable, which focuses for the first five minutes on the jailing. It's so important, the jailing. Here is a woman who got jailed for her beliefs and has come back. And then a speech by a lady who I think will be the candidate who did a very long speech about the vision. The vision was basically, as Pauline said in the video, let's go back to the 70s when we were all happy. And I thought like, okay, yes, the system is broken a bit. Neoliberalism has caused enormous inequality. If people can't afford to own their own home, if the Australian dream dies, people are going to get pretty pissed off, aren't they? So I said, look, the only way that the main parties can counter this is to have a vision of their own, which means they admit there are problems, they come up with a vision and they come up with a plan that can take everyone around. But the fact is that neither major party has done anything about housing for what, two decades. There's been a collapse in social housing, like the government used to build houses for poor people, doesn't do it anymore. You know, like, I think that people are very, very upset and they're screaming again. And the question is, how does one, how do the major parties respond to that scream?

[Ruby Jones]

So do you think she stands? I mean, do you think she could be prime minister? Do you think that's a possibility?

[Margot Kingston]

No, no. I think most Australians take a good look and think, no, I mean, one

[Ruby Jones]

nation could get a lot of seats. They might not form government, but they, they seem likely to be a significant force in the next parliament.

[Margot Kingston]

Well, like, she could be opposition leader on the current polling and, you know, people forget, like back after her maiden speech, you know, the swamp by Asia and everything, there was enormous pushback from the region. Huge. It was threatening our trade relationship with Asia. And John Howard, after, you know, saying, oh, she can say what she likes, free speech, blah, blah, then gave a big speech when things got so hot, saying she is wrong to say that. She is wrong to say that because we live in Asia. The country to our north, which is huge, is Muslim. You know, if you've got an opposition leader who says there's no such thing as a good Muslim like this, it's incredibly dangerous. Even as opposition leader, even in a coalition, as the junior partner, it is extremely dangerous for our future. I think there is a reasonable chance that she would form a coalition in opposition. And the other insight which I've sort of come into my head a bit later is this is going to have to be this next one. A grassroots campaign. I just think that the on the bus stuff doesn't work anymore. People see through the stage management. Guess what Angus is doing over the winter break? He's going grassroots to community halls, to town meetings, to small business forums, to, to listen. You know, it's all. It's begun. This will be a grassroots campaign and it will be wild. And I just hope that the accountability media is up to it.

[Ruby Jones]

Right? And when it comes to accountability, Hanson has been under some scrutiny from a few outlets, especially around One Nation's finances. But looking ahead, it's interesting because her personal brand is so entwined with One Nation's political brand. She's the only successful politician to, to do that. If you, if you discount Clive Palmer, which I think we can, and I think that speaks to a couple of things. It speaks to her longevity in political life, but it also speaks to this moment in time. She is Australia's most successful personality politician and she is using any attack on her to further that personal political brand.

[Margot Kingston]

I am firmly of the view that Pauline Hanson is One nation and that One Nation is nothing without her. She left One Nation a couple of times over the, you know, the decades and they were nothing. It really is cult like, it is sort of Trump, like in that way. And it is incredibly important to the success of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, to my mind, that she is protected from policy scrutiny, as was shown at the press club. It's all very well her banning the abc, but Barnaby goes on, everyone else goes on, you know, like, it is crucially important that her image is protected. And if she falls, I believe one nation falls.

[Ruby Jones]

Margot, thank you so much for your time.

[Margot Kingston]

Pleasure.

[Ruby Jones]

Also in the news, violence against women and girls is again in the spotlight after four alleged murders in four days. Lavanya Chapa, Jana Armstrong, Leila Jeffrey and a 17 year old Yolngu girl were all killed in separate incidents last week. Layla, the youngest was just 13. A 16 year old boy has been charged with her murder. Three men known to the other victims have also been charged with murder. And the oil price has risen by more than 10% as the US and Iran continue to trade blows in the Middle East. The White House has now formalised its re engagement in the war in Iran as Donald Trump announced the US was reinstating its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Experts warn the renewed tensions could see Australia Australian petrol prices rise. I'm Ruby Jones, this is 7:00am thanks for listening.