Pauline Hanson has hit back at Anthony Albanese after he attacked One Nation and accused them of dividing the country following the party’s historic win in Western Australia‘s Secret Harbour by-election.
Addressing the Queensland Labor conference on Sunday, the Prime Minister warned that ‘hard right populists are on the march’ and singled out Hanson’s party as a growing political threat, declaring that Labor had a responsibility to defeat them.
‘Parties like One Nation have no serious answers to our problems,’ Albanese said.
‘They’ll say anything and do anything to win votes. Bend any facts. Peddle misinformation and disinformation. Turn Australian against Australian.’
‘Across the world, hard right populists are on the march,’ he said.
‘We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history. And we will defeat them.’
‘We unequivocally support multiculturalism because we know it’s part of Australia’s strength,’ he said.
‘And because we believe every Australian is equal, whether they are Australian by birth or Australian by choice.’
Pauline Hanson has hit back at Anthony Albanese after he attacked One Nation and accused them of dividing the country following the party’s historic win in Western Australia’s Secret Harbour by-election
Hanson snapped back at the comments on Monday morning and accused Albanese of crossing the line
The Prime Minister also took aim at some of the offhand comments made by Hanson.
‘They think Australians are lazy and overpaid,’ he said.
‘That people working from home are bludging. That domestic violence is sometimes a woman’s fault. That we should somehow become a monoculture.’
Hanson snapped back at the comments on Monday morning and accused Albanese of crossing the line.
‘No matter how worried Jim and Albanese are about losing their jobs, telling Australians that their democratically elected opponents are “dangerous” and a “threat to our country” invites people to treat them as a threat.
‘Words have consequences. That is how political violence is incited. The murder of Ann Widdecombe in Britain should be warning enough about the dangers of poisonous political rhetoric.
‘Anthony Albanese says we need to turn down the heat and violent rhetoric in our political discourse.
‘Meanwhile, he and his Treasurer are pouring petrol all over it. Australians are entitled to vote for One Nation without being told by the Treasurer and the Prime Minister that their democratic choice is a danger to the nation.
Labor lost to One Nation at a WA by-election in Perth’s south over the weekend (pictured is winner Luke Herdegen)
Albanese acknowledged the rising popularity of One Nation (pictured is One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and MP Barnaby Joyce)
‘The real danger is that Jim and Albanese’s incompetent economic management will continue to push your rent, your mortgage and your bills even higher.
‘The real danger to Jim and Albanese is that the people of Australia are coming for their government… at the ballot box.’
The comments come a day after One Nation secured its first lower house seat in Western Australia, with candidate Luke Herdegen defeating Labor’s Georgia Tree in Secret Harbour.
The result is a major upset, with One Nation taking a seat long considered safe Labor territory, after an 18 per cent swing to the party and a two-candidate-preferred result of roughly 57 per cent to Labor’s 43 per cent.
Labor’s primary vote crashed by 22 per cent to just 24 per cent, while One Nation recorded a primary of 39 per cent – having managed only nine per cent at the 2025 WA state election in the seat.
