Happy 30th Anniversary Pauline Hanson

It's been 30 years since Pauline Hanson delivered her first speech to Parliament — 30 long years of Hanson telling Australians she's had a gutful, she has achieved nothing of significance and is now attacking war veterans, writes Belinda Jones.

THIRTY YEARS AGO this week, Pauline Hanson gave her infamous first speech to Parliament.

In that speech, she predicted Australia would be “swamped with Asians”, which never happened and identified herself as "just an ordinary Australian".

In the same speech, Hanson called for the introduction of national service for 18-year-olds.

She warned of our impending doom:

I do not feel we can go on living in a dream world forever and a day believing that war will never touch our lives again….

Time is running out. We may have only ten to 15 years left to turn things around. Because of our resources and our position in the world, we will not have a say because neighbouring countries such as Japan, with 125 million people; China, with 1.2 billion people; India, with 846 million people; Indonesia, with 178 million people; and Malaysia, with 20 million people are well aware of our resources and potential.

Wake up, Australia, before it is too late.

We may have missed it, but we don’t recall Japan, China, India, Indonesia or Malaysia invading and taking Australia's resources in the last 30 years — so that never happened either.

Hanson didn't thank anyone in her speech, which in retrospect is quite telling — and also quite Trumpian.

Most politicians thank their family, their campaign team, their mentors and anyone who helped them attain their position. Not Pauline. She didn’t thank anyone. It was all about what she thought and what her opinions were. No humility, no gratitude.

For 30 years, Australians have had to put up with Hanson’s whinging and complaining. If the average Aussie had a dollar for every time Hanson has said she’s “had a gutful”, then we’d all be richer than her best mate Gina Rinehart.

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Quite frankly, it’s getting old. Hanson has had a national platform for 30 years and what has she actually accomplished in that time? Your guess would be as good as ours.

So, historically, Hanson has been notoriously wrong; she’s constantly whinged and complained while having a national platform and position to change things but has achieved nothing significant in 30 years.

Despite this, a few years ago, One Nation started to attract wealthy supporters and, just like magic, One Nation started rising in the polls. Their marketing and communications improved. Billionaires flew Pauline around the world. She skipped work and went to Mar-a-Lago. Gina gave her a plane. Pauline wasn't "just an ordinary Australian" anymore.

And, just like magic, Pauline Hanson – who ‘for more than three decades, has held firm to her views’, egregious though they may be, who hasn’t changed her position on anything of note, has most often been very wrong, regularly performed ridiculous stunts and achieved absolutely nothing of value – has started taking off in the polls.

Simultaneously, the Liberal Party has been falling apart and haemorrhaging voters — due to a succession of poor governments, poor leadership and failed policy.

Now Pauline, being Pauline, believed all those lost disgruntled conservative voters had miraculously and inexplicably developed a newfound love for her 30-year-stagnant policy position. It has given her quite the sense of "measuring up The Lodge curtains" bravado.

The only thing that has changed in 30 years to affect One Nation polling has been an influx of financial support from billionaires for an army of pro-One Nation social media bots, marketing and communications propaganda and, of course, her so-called satirical cartoon.

Hanson remains as she ever was. Unchanged. Unrepentant.

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Hanson, who often likes to say she "never backs down", remained steadfast in her resolve this week when Federal MP Andrew Hastie, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, Senator Jackie Lambie, the RSL and a litany of others demanded she remove an offensive cartoon video.

In the One Nation video, Hastie, a former member of the elite Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), is called a “traitor” and a“gutless maggot” multiple times.

Hanson, who just weeks ago demanded the ABC remove a satirical piece about her mate Gina, refused to back down. Hanson has previously said she is a supporter of former SASR member Ben Roberts-Smith, who has been charged with five counts of murder and is awaiting trial.

Hastie was among many former SASR soldiers who gave evidence at Roberts-Smith's own-goal defamation trial.

So, not only has Hanson publicly picked a side in legal proceedings that are yet to commence, she has politicised those proceedings and jeopardised a fair trial for Ben Roberts-Smith.

And she has publicly called an Australian war hero a “traitor” and a “gutless maggot” multiple times, and offended every veteran who has ever proudly worn an Australian uniform — something Hanson has never done.

Then, when asked to do the decent thing and take the offensive video down, Hanson refused.

And that is Pauline Hanson’s most fundamental flaw, like Trump – she thinks being wrong or changing tack is failure. She can’t recognise when she’s wrong or has overstepped the mark; she refuses to back down and she certainly doesn’t know how to sincerely apologise for being wrong.

Pauline is never wrong and never has to apologise to anyone — very Trumpian.

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There is no shame in being wrong, but there is great shame in not being able to admit it.

In 30 years, Pauline Hanson has never sincerely apologised for being wrong despite her talent for being so wrong so many times. She’s never apologised for 30 years of achieving nothing despite her healthy taxpayer-funded salary. She’s never apologised for subjecting Australians to 30 years of non-stop whinging and complaining about having a gutful.

She probably won't apologise to Andrew Hastie, the RSL or the veteran community.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Pauline, thanks for nothing.

Belinda Jones is an IA assistant editor and a former teacher and federal political candidate. You can follow Belinda Jones on Twitter/X @belindajones68.