GetUp activist David Sharaz has been referred to the AFP to explain whether or not he pushed the button on the banner that disrupted Pauline Hanson’s press club address.
The National Press Club has called in the AFP over a Get Up banner that was unfurled during Pauline Hanson’s address.
Mr Sharaz, the husband of Brittany Higgins was in the room when the incident happened but left shortly afterwards.
“No club personnel or club contractors had any involvement in this matter, the National Press Club said in a statement.
“We have referred the relevant footage and other evidence to the AFP for further investigation.
“The organisation “GetUp !” is claiming credit for the stunt. The “GetUp !” representative at the address was David Sharaz.
“At time of writing, we understand he is yet to be interviewed by the AFP.
“It appears that two persons entered the club building yesterday afternoon without permission and installed a separate drop-down screen in front of our media wall/ light box.
“It is evident that a further person present during the Address activated a remote device to trigger the unfurling of the coiled banner.
“David Sharaz was seen filming the incident on his phone and, after the banner had lowered, left abruptly.
“We understand that this is likely to form part of the AFP investigation
“When the investigation has concluded, the Club will consider its legal options against the perpetrators including recovering costs for the significant damage to the media wall/ light box.
“The Club sincerely apologises to Senator Hanson for the incident.”
Ms Hanson claimed Australians are “eating out of rubbish bins” to get by and children are going to school hungry in the fiery address.
The One Nation leader also vowed to shut down the SBS, turn the ABC into a subscriber-only service in the cities and sack the sex discrimination commissioner in her speech.
She saw red after being asked a question about her daughter, accusing the journalist of having an “obsession” with trying to tear her down and “constantly bashing” One Nation.
Senator Hanson’s voice briefly wavered when a protest banner accusing her of opposing pay rises for ordinary workers appeared on stage near the start of her speech.
Left-wing activist group GetUp! later claimed responsibility for the stunt as moderator Tom Connell clarified the press club had “no knowledge of what happened”.
Dismissing claims of racism in her speech, Senator Hanson declared she hadn’t changed, but that political parties were catching up, accusing the Prime Minister of “lies” on tax reform.
“And that’s why my policy to slash immigration reflects what most Australians want,’’ she said.
“The story is simple. My views haven’t changed. Other political parties are simply following me.
“Because that’s what most Australians want. Especially after Bondi and the return of ISIS brides.
Warning that Australia’s immigration policy is in “a state of crisis” she blamed migrants for the housing crisis and said people were going to bed early to save electricity.
“How can we as members of parliament who are supposed to represent the people of this nation allow that to happen?’’ she said.
“It is disgraceful. And yet this Albanese Labor government cannot help our own people here but keeps bringing more people into the country, flooding it time and time and time again.
“At the centre of this crisis is the utterly flawed policy of multiculturalism. We cannot be a multicultural society. We are a multiracial society, but we must be monocultural. Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.
“Under the failed policy of multiculturalism, all cultures are allowed equivalence to ours. Surely opposing that is not racist; it’s common sense.”
Senator Hanson kicked off her address by criticising Channel Nine after a journalist asked if why she had not travelled on a private aircraft owned by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
“I flew cattle class,” Senator Hanson said.
She also took aim at the use of Welcome to Country, including at the National Press Club events, describing the practice as “divisive”.
“Don’t expect a divisive Welcome to Country from me – this beautiful country belongs to all Australians born here and those who have joined us,” she said, also acknowledging those who had “sacrificed their lives” for Australia.
‘Banned’: Pauline Hanson takes on reporter
Senator Hanson rounded on a reporter for asking questions about her daughter, Leigh Hanson, declaring she doesn’t believe in nepotism.
The clash kicked off during the question and answer session of her speech at the press club when she was asked about the fact that her daughter was working for an NSW MP despite living in Tasmania, where she is campaigning.
“Senator Hanson, Sarah Martin from The Guardian. Taxpayers are paying more than $150,000 a year for your daughter, Leigh Hanson, to seemingly campaign full-time in Tasmania, while employed as a political adviser for a New South Wales senator, she was asked.
“Did you have any role in appointing her to that position?”
In response, Senator Hanson said the premise of the question was simply wrong.
“Honestly, you never give up. I’ve never seen a person who is such a trashy journalist,” she said.
“You’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party or Mrs Rinehart, whatever you do.
“You will be banned. I’ll answer you this question today, but I’m telling you now, don’t come near me for an interview in the future.
“You don’t research properly, you don’t know your information, and you will put out lies about me.
“Well, I’ve had enough of that. But I’ll tell you that, no, she didn’t, I didn’t get her that job.
“She got the job on her own merits by someone who actually wanted to employ her, her abilities, her skills in HR, her abilities in working for the Tasmanian university for eight years and was head of a department down there.
“So my daughter is very capable. She might end up in the Senate with me.
“If I’m fortunate enough to get elected by the people of Queensland, you’re going to have a lot to write about then, aren’t you?.”
Activist group claims responsibility for protest
Left-wing activist group GetUp! has meanwhile claimed responsibility for the stunt at the press club targeting Pauline Hanson.
“It was us,’’ the group said in a statement.
“Pauline Hanson has built her entire brand on being for the battlers. But her record tells a different story. One Nation has consistently opposed wage rises, affordable childcare, increases to the aged pension, and housing affordability measures,’’ GetUp CEO Paul Ferris said.
“We thought the occasion deserved some honesty. So we provided it.”
Hanson compares ‘transgender ideology’ with radical Islam
Senator Hanson compared ‘transgender ideology’ with radical Islam during her speech, insisting she didn’t have anything against transgender people per se.
However she said they shouldn’t be able to go into female change rooms.
“Just because you lop off your penis and put on a dress does not make you a woman,” she said, quoting Germaine Greer.
“This movement, like radical Islam, is everywhere.”
“I am simply saying that a transgender woman should not be allowed into women’s sport or into a women’s changing room. And likewise, a transgender man,” Hanson says.
ABC slammed for ‘obvious’ bias
Pauline Hanson has slammed the ABC for its “obvious” bias against One Nation.
“Remember this, I don’t answer to the media,” she said.
She said that some elements of the media were part of the problem.
Asked if she would hold regular media conferences, she said she would, but warned she was not prepared to be a punching bag.
“I did say I was banning the ABC and I’ve banned The Guardian as well,” she said.
Protester interrupts press club
Pauline Hanson has kept calm and carried on after a protestor unfurled a banner at the National Press Club while she was speaking.
Her first national press club speech was interrupted on Wednesday when a banner unfurled, accusing her of hypocrisy.
“I opposed a pay rise for workers,” the banner stated, noting she had accepted a pay rise as a politician.
Press Club CEO Maurice Reilly moved in to rip down the banner stating, “We are not doing stunts, we are at the Press Club,” as the live broadcast continued.
Earlier, fellow party member Barnaby Joyce predicted that Senator Hanson’s appearance would be “nothing like any other press conference.”
“Pauline will be up for grilling, and people will be out for her with steak knives, I can see that coming from a mile away,” he said.
“We’ve got to man up to the challenge.”
Increased scrutiny also follows a blockbuster $4 million fundraising drive as a result of the party’s Fire the Liar campaign targeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The party has now used a small amount of the funding to drive a truck billboard outside the Prime Minister’s electorate office that boasts One Nation will campaign to ‘fire the liar’ at the next election.
High-profile MPs targeted
Pledging to campaign to turf the Labor government from office, One Nation has said it plans to target high-profile Labor MPs and frontbenchers in key seats.
“Every dollar raised will be used to target Labor-held seats, including the PM’s, Chris Bowen, Tony Burke and Dan Repacholi. We’ve got a long list of marginal Labor held seats we’re coming for,’’ he said.
Embracing the crowd-funding tactics she previously slammed as “disgusting”, One Nation left the Labor Party shocked this week after voters backed the campaign in a big way.
The fundraising grudge match kicked off after the leader of the ALP emailed members asking for cash to “stop One Nation” prompting Senator Hanson to blow up.
Mystery Philippines connection
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Pauline Hanson’s South Park-inspired cartoon series for conservatives was adapted into a 90-minute feature film with the assistance of a crack team of Filipino animaters.
Despite criticising globalisation and the loss of jobs offshore, it turns out that One Nation has paid a Melbourne-based company to create the popular animated series that uses animaters from the Philippines.
Stepmates Studio has worked with animaters in the region for years as the Philippines emerges as a global animation powerhouse.
For example, on LinkedIn, a man who lists his location as Calabarzon, Philippines, claims to have been animating for Stepmates studios since February 2022, ahead of the first episode of the cartoon being released in May 2022.
Several other animaters list their employment as Stepmates on LinkedIn, with one providing a link to a demo reel that includes scenes from Please Explain.
Or, as it would be expressed in the Philippines, “Paki-paliwanag PO?”.
One Nation paying virtual assistants in the Philippines
News.com.au confirmed with One Nation that the political party continues to use offshore workers to create Facebook sites for candidates.
However, all the of content and material uploaded is created in Australia.
“During the election cycles, we have all the Facebook pages established by virtual assistant,’’ a One Nation spokesman said.
“They don’t control the Facebook pages. All of the content is created here. But when establishing 150 candidate pages all at once, we use a template that is populated by virtual assistants.
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