FLASHBACK 2019: Put Gun Nation last!

The dangers posed by political extremism, misinformation and vested interests continue to cast a long shadow over Australia's democracy.

In this story from 2019, IA founder David Donovan dissected the revelations of Al Jazeera's How to Sell a Massacre sting operation and called for voters to put One Nation last.

FOLLOWING Al Jazeera’s revelations in How to Sell a Massacre, the second part of which aired on the ABC tonight [March 2019], it is urgent that every party should preference Pauline Hanson’s One Nation last at the upcoming Federal Election.

This far-right-wing party has long been a blight on Australia’s political system. Its openly racist views and ugly ideologies are anathema to most decent Australians. However, it is the appalling lack of morals and ethics revealed from its leadership team on a jaunt to America that has really sealed the deal.

Senator Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff, the infamous James Ashby, and PHON’s number one Senate ticket holder in Queensland, Steve Dickson, revealed One Nation was prepared to sell out Australian law-making to far-right-wing American groups, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Koch Brothers, in exchange for cold hard cash. It is unimaginable that these men did not seek to do this without the imprimatur of their leader, Hanson — who has been unusually silent since Al Jazeera’s sting operation broke sensationally this week.

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After One Nation's David Farley recently won the Farrer by-election, Senator Pauline Hanson took centre stage with a speech that seemed vaguely familiar.

In the opinion of this publication, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party is both treacherous and treasonous, and must be wiped off the electoral map at the next Federal Election — likely to be held sometime in May.

The fact that the Party seems to be run these days by James Ashby – a convicted criminal, who Independent Australia has been repeatedly exposing since 2012 and about whom we published a book – merely reinforces the reprehensible nature of this organisation. Ashby is currently banned from Parliament House after getting into a fist fight with a former One Nation Senator in the reception area.

In a fiery press conference on Tuesday, Ashby and Dickson claimed that they were “on the sauce” when taped, taken out of context, and that “One Nation always acted with integrity and within the law”. Perhaps they were drunk, but all their other claims would seem to be absurd.

Let’s have a look at some of the things they said.

Firstly, it is clear Ashby knew what they were doing was wrong when he envisaged what would happen if the public became aware of his discussions with the pro-gun lobby:

“If it gets out, it’ll fucking rock the boat. This shit goes through my head every single minute of my day.”

They also discussed how much money they would need to take control of Australian politics, when the undercover Al Jazeera reporter, posing as a gun lobbyist, asked Dickson and Ashby:

“If we get to a point where we can talk about figures, what sort of number are you guys thinking?”

“I’m thinking 10 [million],” Mr Dickson responds.

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Pauline Hanson is flying high across the volatile Australian political landscape thanks to her billionaire donors.

Ashby wanted more. “No, I was thinking 20,” he said. For that sort of money, you “could have eight senators”, Ashby explains.

Mr Dickson agrees:

“If we could get that sort of money, imagine, we could change Australia. I mean, that guarantees you the balance of power, you’d have the whole government by the balls.”

There is no evidence that One Nation secured any money from either the NRA or the Koch Brothers, although there is no way of confirming that at this stage. Ashby said they had “been on the sauce” for three or four hours when they had made the comments.

Ashby we all know about, but it is Dickson who comes off even worse in the leaked tape — a boorish boastful bigot, a racist, a redneck and a liar.

Here are some lies about Muslims he told to the NRA at a function:

We've been importing all these Muslims into Australia. We have about 230,000 people coming in a year. Our population's only 25 million and, some really dangerous people.

They're just breaking into people's homes with baseball bats and killing people. Basically stealing everything they own. Gangs.

Our country's going into chaos.

Figures from the Home Affairs Department show fewer than 163,000 people were granted permanent migration status in the last financial year. His claims about widespread home invasions from Africans are an absolute furphy.

This is only half the story! Read the rest of this editorial in the members-only area by subscribing to Independent Australia. It only takes a minute to subscribe and costs as little as $5.

You can follow managing editor Dave Donovan on X/Twitter @davrosz and Bluesky @davrosz.bsky.social. Follow Independent Australia on Twitter at @independentaus and on Facebook HERE.