Hanson in the hot seat gets a little, well, heated

Hanson, in the hot seat, faced a National Press Club appearance that underscored a combative, sometimes rambling defense of One Nation and marked her first such address in three decades in politics. The hour-long speech touched on Islam, the media, the United Nations, foreign aid, and migrants who don’t speak English, alongside the so-called ‘transgender insurgency’ and concerns about the public service, industrial relations, and net zero. Reporters pressed for policy specifics, including whether One Nation’s tax policy has evolved from an earlier 25 per cent flat tax proposal, but she refused to reveal her current thinking.

She defended positions opposing minimum wage rises, wage theft criminalisation, and tighter regulation of the gig economy, arguing that such changes would hamper business efficiency. The exchange also scrutinised a taxpayer-funded adviser role for her daughter Lee, with Hanson dismissing Sarah Martin’s questions as trashy journalism. She floated reforms, including scrapping SBS and shrinking the ABC to a city subscription service, and said the party would continue to exclude ABC and The Guardian from press conferences. She dodged a question on leaving the United Nations, noting that any exit would require renegotiating shipping and aviation rights and could cause travel delays.