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\u2019s press club address.<\/p>\n
The National Press Club has called in the AFP over a Get Up banner that was unfurled during Pauline Hanson\u2019s address. <\/p>\n
Mr Sharaz, the husband of Brittany Higgins was in the room when the incident happened but left shortly afterwards. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo club personnel or club contractors had any involvement in this matter, the National Press Club said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have referred the relevant footage and other evidence to the AFP for further investigation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe organisation \u201cGetUp !\u201d is claiming credit for the stunt. The \u201cGetUp !\u201d representative at the address was David Sharaz.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt time of writing, we understand he is yet to be interviewed by the AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is evident that a further person present during the Address activated a remote device to trigger the unfurling of the coiled banner.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Sharaz was seen filming the incident on his phone and, after the banner had lowered, left abruptly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that this is likely to form part of the AFP investigation<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Club sincerely apologises to Senator Hanson for the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hanson claimed Australians are \u201ceating out of rubbish bins\u201d to get by and children are going to school hungry in the fiery address.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She saw red after being asked a question about her daughter, accusing the journalist of having an \u201cobsession\u201d with trying to tear her down and \u201cconstantly bashing\u201d One Nation.<\/p>\n
Senator Hanson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Left-wing activist group GetUp! later claimed responsibility for the stunt as moderator Tom Connell clarified the press club had \u201cno knowledge of what happened\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dismissing claims of racism in her speech, Senator Hanson declared she hadn\u2019t changed, but that political parties were catching up, accusing the Prime Minister of \u201clies\u201d on tax reform.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s why my policy to slash immigration reflects what most Australians want,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story is simple. My views haven\u2019t changed. Other political parties are simply following me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that\u2019s what most Australians want. Especially after Bondi and the return of ISIS brides.<\/p>\n
Warning that Australia\u2019s immigration policy is in \u201ca state of crisis\u201d she blamed migrants for the housing crisis and said people were going to bed early to save electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we as members of parliament who are supposed to represent the people of this nation allow that to happen?\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the failed policy of multiculturalism, all cultures are allowed equivalence to ours. Surely opposing that is not racist; it\u2019s common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI flew cattle class,\u201d Senator Hanson said.<\/p>\n
She also took aim at the use of Welcome to Country, including at the National Press Club events, describing the practice as \u201cdivisive\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t expect a divisive Welcome to Country from me \u2013 this beautiful country belongs to all Australians born here and those who have joined us,\u201d she said, also acknowledging those who had \u201csacrificed their lives\u201d for Australia.<\/p>\n
\u2018Banned\u2019: Pauline Hanson takes on reporter<\/p>\n
Senator Hanson rounded on a reporter for asking questions about her daughter, Leigh Hanson, declaring she doesn\u2019t believe in nepotism.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cSenator 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you have any role in appointing her to that position?\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Senator Hanson said the premise of the question was simply wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, you never give up. I\u2019ve never seen a person who is such a trashy journalist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party or Mrs Rinehart, whatever you do. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou will be banned. I\u2019ll answer you this question today, but I\u2019m telling you now, don\u2019t come near me for an interview in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t research properly, you don\u2019t know your information, and you will put out lies about me. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019ve had enough of that. But I\u2019ll tell you that, no, she didn\u2019t, I didn\u2019t get her that job. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my daughter is very capable. She might end up in the Senate with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m fortunate enough to get elected by the people of Queensland, you\u2019re going to have a lot to write about then, aren\u2019t you?.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activist group claims responsibility for protest<\/p>\n
Left-wing activist group GetUp! has meanwhile claimed responsibility for the stunt at the press club targeting Pauline Hanson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was us,\u2019\u2019 the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPauline 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,\u2019\u2019 GetUp CEO Paul Ferris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought the occasion deserved some honesty. So we provided it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanson compares \u2018transgender ideology\u2019 with radical Islam<\/p>\n
Senator Hanson compared \u2018transgender ideology\u2019 with radical Islam during her speech, insisting she didn\u2019t have anything against transgender people per se. <\/p>\n
However she said they shouldn\u2019t be able to go into female change rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because you lop off your penis and put on a dress does not make you a woman,\u201d she said, quoting Germaine Greer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis movement, like radical Islam, is everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am simply saying that a transgender woman should not be allowed into women\u2019s sport or into a women\u2019s changing room. And likewise, a transgender man,\u201d Hanson says.<\/p>\n
ABC slammed for \u2018obvious\u2019 bias <\/p>\n
Pauline Hanson has slammed the ABC for its \u201cobvious\u201d bias against One Nation. <\/p>\n
\u201cRemember this, I don\u2019t answer to the media,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She said that some elements of the media were part of the problem.<\/p>\n
Asked if she would hold regular media conferences, she said she would, but warned she was not prepared to be a punching bag. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did say I was banning the ABC and I\u2019ve banned The Guardian as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Protester interrupts press club \u00a0<\/p>\n
Pauline Hanson has kept calm and carried on after a protestor unfurled a banner at the National Press Club while she was speaking.<\/p>\n
Her first national press club speech was interrupted on Wednesday when a banner unfurled, accusing her of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI opposed a pay rise for workers,\u201d the banner stated, noting she had accepted a pay rise as a politician.<\/p>\n
Press Club CEO Maurice Reilly moved in to rip down the banner stating, \u201cWe are not doing stunts, we are at the Press Club,\u201d as the live broadcast continued.<\/p>\n
Earlier, fellow party member Barnaby Joyce predicted that Senator Hanson\u2019s appearance would be \u201cnothing like any other press conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPauline will be up for grilling, and people will be out for her with steak knives, I can see that coming from a mile away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to man up to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Increased scrutiny also follows a blockbuster $4 million fundraising drive as a result of the party\u2019s Fire the Liar campaign targeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n
The party has now used a small amount of the funding to drive a truck billboard outside the Prime Minister\u2019s electorate office that boasts One Nation will campaign to \u2018fire the liar\u2019 at the next election.<\/p>\n
High-profile MPs targeted<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery dollar raised will be used to target Labor-held seats, including the PM\u2019s, Chris Bowen, Tony Burke and Dan Repacholi. We\u2019ve got a long list of marginal Labor held seats we\u2019re coming for,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Embracing the crowd-funding tactics she previously slammed as \u201cdisgusting\u201d, One Nation left the Labor Party shocked this week after voters backed the campaign in a big way.<\/p>\n
The fundraising grudge match kicked off after the leader of the ALP emailed members asking for cash to \u201cstop One Nation\u201d prompting Senator Hanson to blow up.<\/p>\n
Mystery Philippines connection<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Pauline Hanson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Stepmates Studio has worked with animaters in the region for years as the Philippines emerges as a global animation powerhouse.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Or, as it would be expressed in the Philippines, \u201cPaki-paliwanag PO?\u201d.<\/p>\n
One Nation paying virtual assistants in the Philippines<\/p>\n
News.com.au confirmed with One Nation that the political party continues to use offshore workers to create Facebook sites for candidates.<\/p>\n
However, all the of content and material uploaded is created in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the election cycles, we have all the Facebook pages established by virtual assistant,\u2019\u2019 a One Nation spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n