In Brief
- Pauline Hanson has spoken about whether party donor Gina Rinehart influences her policies.
- In a broad-ranging interview, she's also defended past comments on Asian migration.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has confirmed she speaks to billionaire donor Gina Rinehart about policy matters, but insists the mining magnate does not influence her party's policy.
In a wide-ranging interview with SBS News, Hanson says she's confident about resonating with multicultural voters in Western Sydney, outlining the conditions of having a Muslim One Nation candidate, and whether her proposed ban on head coverings would include those that show the face.
She also distanced herself from One Nation supporters who hold neo-Nazi views, saying she doesn't have "anything to do with them".
'No-one changes my vision': Hanson on Rinehart
Last month, Hanson announced she had received a new plane, a Cirrus G7, which was gifted by one of Rinehart's companies.
Rinehart, a well-known backer of One Nation, used an Anzac Day speech to call for more pre-arrival screening of immigrants and "welcome peace-loving contributing immigrants to our shores".
When asked directly by SBS News whether Rinehart influences One Nation policy, Hanson responded "no".
Hanson said she had not been influenced by Rinehart on immigration matters.
"Just because we've got a plane doesn't mean to say my tune has changed as far as migration," Hanson said.
"I've been speaking about this for the last 30 years. I'm on the record of talking about this. I've been consistent with my policies, what I stand for."
But she said Rinehart did raise matters of policy with her, in line with other organisations and groups who meet with her in parliament.
"She (Rinehart) puts forward some policies like everyone else. I had the gas industry here today as well. I've had ... a lawyer about family law. So, I'm talking to all people, which I have done for years, about policy.
"Why shouldn't she talk to me about policy? No one changes my vision, what I have for Australia, what I want to do. I'm quite happy to listen to anyone. Why wouldn't I listen to Gina Rinehart? She's one of the highest — if not the highest — taxpayers in this nation, and what she does for this country as well."
Hanson pointed to Rinehart’s financial backing for war veterans, the Olympic swim team, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the agricultural sector.
"I'm sick of people saying, you know, who criticise her for the wealth, but she's one of the people in this country that does give back to the community, unlike some of the others in the mining industry."
Hanson rejected suggestions the donated plane — valued at around $1 million — conflicts with her image as "the voice of the Australian battlers", arguing the major parties have enormous combined donations.
She said the plane will allow her to visit regional and rural Australians who "never see a politician out there", and that the travel comes at "no cost" to the taxpayer because she pays for the plane fuel herself.
Coalition losing votes to One Nation
One Nation's polling surge has put the Liberal and National parties under pressure, with the party polling between 24 and 27 per cent of the national primary vote.
Amid its rising popularity, Hanson has prised off a string of Opposition recruits to join her party — including former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. This month, One Nation's first federal lower house MP was elected in Farrer, in a long-held Liberal seat.
In South Australia, former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi leads the party, while One Nation secured four lower house seats and three in the upper house in this year's state election.
Former Liberal senator Hollie Hughes and one-time Liberal Party vice president Tina McQueen have also joined the orange wave.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor says talk of a future Coalition being broadened to include One Nation alongside the Liberals and Nationals is "nonsense".
"I have put out an olive branch to the Coalition to work with us to form that coalition together. All I've got is pushback," Hanson said.
Hanson's ambition is for One Nation to win enough seats to govern — and she's now looking at a pathway through outer-suburban seats held by the major parties, and independents.
Hanson doesn't regret Senate burqa stunt
In her 2016 maiden speech in the Senate, Hanson drew criticism after saying Australia was being "swamped by Muslims". More recently, she faced Senate, Labor and Muslim community condemnation for saying there were "no good Muslims" in Australia. Australia's race discrimination commissioner warned the comments could "embolden others to act violently towards" the Muslim community.
Hanson has twice used the Senate to protest against the burqa — a full face and body covering traditionally worn in Afghanistan — by wearing the garment in the chamber, in a move that was condemned by political opponents and rights and activist groups as discriminatory.
Hanson was censured and suspended from the Senate for a week over the 2025 stunt. Muslim communities said they feared a potential rise in hate crimes and attacks against women and girls wearing headscarves as a result of Hanson's actions.
Hanson has no regrets over her actions.
"The public are on side with me here," she said, pointing to some Muslim-majority countries banning partial or full face veils, while questioning how people can get a job with such full coverage.
But she said her concerns did not extend to all forms of head covering, like the hijab, which covers the hair and neck but shows the face.
"I've got no problem with that, but the Australian people do not want the full face covering."
While she is open to selecting Muslim candidates to run for the party, and has done so in the past, that would come with conditions.
"You have a difference. There is someone who may have been born and they're a Muslim. Are they a practising Muslim that complies with Sharia law?"
Emma Eros, a Muslim candidate who ran for One Nation in the 2019 NSW state election, described Hanson's "no good Muslims" comments as "appalling" in February, saying ordinary mums and dads should not be tarnished as "terrorists".
'I haven't been to the western suburbs for a long time'
Hanson's major policy platform is ending what she describes as "mass migration". She wants to dramatically reduce migration to a visa cap of 130,000 people a year and ban migrants from countries "known to foster extremist ideologies".
Australia's net overseas migration — the number of migrants arriving minus those departing — peaked at 555,800 in 2022-23.
But it has fallen in the years since, coming in at 305,570 in the year to June 2025, according to the latest data.
"There's one culture, the Australian culture. And I do not believe in bringing in different cultures, like Islamic beliefs or — not their beliefs, but their ideology is incompatible with the Australian culture and way of life," she said.
Australian Muslim leaders and organisations like the Australian National Imams Council have rejected such statements, saying the Muslim community is an integral part of society and was committed to social cohesion, the safety and security of all Australians and the development of the country.
While she maintains One Nation is finding support in western Sydney suburbs like Fairfield and Blacktown, Hanson has also acknowledged she has not been campaigning on the ground in those areas.
"I haven't been into the western suburbs for a long time — even when I went to Fairfield was years ago, I got a great response from people there, and from the Lebanese Maronites, and different ones that I've spoken to. I've got a lot of support from these people, from these migrants, and these people are saying that they don't like the country that it's becoming."
No apologies for Asian migration comments
In 1996, when Pauline Hanson delivered her maiden speech in the House of Representatives, it was Asian immigration in her sights, warning: "I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians."
Today, Hanson says she would not apologise for the comments, saying the "data" she had at the time showed the Australian population would become "54 per cent Asian" with continued immigration trends at the time.
"So we'll find out next year, what is the [Asian] population," she said, referring to the upcoming Census, which will take place in August.
Approximately 17.4 per cent of Australia's population identified as having Asian ancestry in the last Census, taken in 2021.
"I don't apologise for that [comment], because I'm a proud Australian, and we need to have immigration that comes in that people assimilate to become Australian."
But the senator now maintains she’s got increasing support from Asian communities.
“My job as a member of parliament is to have vision for the future and determine, what sort of country do we want? Why do you think a lot of these migrants have come here and support me? Because they say: 'Pauline, you're right. We came in the right way. We actually went through all [these] checks and balances. We don't want this country to become like the place that we left.'
"You might be absolutely shocked [at] the number of Asian migrants that have come here that fully support me. A lot of my members and candidates and different ones have Asian partners, or they have stood, who are Asians that stand for me."
When people label her as "racist" in the parliament, Hanson describes that as "pulling the race card".
"Don't pull the race card with me, because you can't have a debate with me about mass migration and the people that we're bringing into the country, that tells me you're immature. You don't know what you're talking about. You can't have a decent sit-down and debate with me," she said.
"Racist means that you believe your race to be superior to another, right? I'm proud of who I am. Everyone's proud of their race or their cultural background, by all means, but it doesn't mean to say that you exclude people based on that. But what I'm proud of is our culture, our heritage and way of life."
Hanson on neo-Nazis: 'I don’t have anything to do with them'
Last year, members of the now-disbanded neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network (NSN) used the anti-immigration March for Australia protests to recruit new members, issuing leaflets promoting their movement.
In November, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) highlighted concerns about neo-Nazi groups leveraging the March for Australia rallies.
"The biggest neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network — or White Australia, as it is rebranding itself — identified the demonstrations as a vehicle to raise its profile," ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said in a speech.
"It strategically and opportunistically exploited the organisers' complaints about immigration and the cost of living."
While Hanson spoke at March for Australia rallies in Canberra this year and last year, former NSN leader Thomas Sewell spoke at the Melbourne event in August 2025.
A One Nation volunteer in the Farrer by-election who was brought on stage and singled out for praise on election night had made social media posts praising Sewell.
When questioned about a section of her support base who hold neo-Nazi views, Hanson replied: "That’s got nothing to do with me, and that's got nothing to do with One Nation.
"Don't try and make out that they're part of One Nation or part of our team, or anything like that. It's got nothing to do with it. So don't head down that path with me. I'm sick and tired of the media throwing this at me all the time."
But she conceded that while there may be supporters of One Nation who identify as neo-Nazis, she has no control over her base.
"They're supporters. And before One Nation came on, where were they, who did they support? Did you follow that up?
"I don't know who is out there supporting me. I've got people from all different cultural background, walks of life, ages, you name it, supporting One Nation because they support my policies, what I stand for. So don't have a go at me as if it's going to belittle or denigrate my party, what I stand for, because I may have this fringe out there who support us.
"They're fringe. They're out here. They’re going to support someone."
You can watch more interviews with party leaders about key policies introduced by the federal government as part of the 2026-27 federal budget here.
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