Australia’s One Nation party has found itself mired in internal contradiction and public scrutiny over conflicting stances on Sydney’s annual LGBTQI+ Mardi Gras celebration, with party founder Pauline Hanson doubling down on her decades-long opposition to the event while one of her own sitting MPs publicly praised his experience attending as an enjoyable night of entertainment.
The clash of views comes amid a turbulent period for the populist political party, which has already faced public backlash over harmful comments from a former One Nation candidate who incorrectly labeled gay people as mentally ill. That candidate has since issued a formal apology for the remarks, and the mixed messages around Mardi Gras have only amplified questions about the party’s internal diversity and ideological consistency on LGBTQI+ issues. Last week, former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce even drew widespread attention for his offbeat claim that One Nation is “one of the gayest parties in Australia”, adding another layer of chaos to the ongoing conversation.
In public comments made to media on Sunday, Hanson, the party’s long-serving national leader, made clear her position has not shifted since she first became a high-profile opponent of the celebration more than 30 years ago. “I still don’t like the gay mardi gras, but that’s my opinion,” Hanson told reporters. When asked if she had ever attended the iconic annual event, she was clear: “Have I ever been to one? No. Do I intend to go? No, I don’t. I think your own personal sexuality should be kept … behind closed doors. It’s no one’s business to do it out there with the gay mardi gras anywhere.”
But David Farley, the One Nation MP who won the regional seat of Farrer in a May by-election and delivered his maiden parliamentary speech just last week, offered a starkly different perspective when questioned about the event. Farley revealed he had already attended Mardi Gras alongside his sister, who is a member of the LGBTQI+ community, and an American friend visiting from Tennessee.
“We started to walk our way back and we walked right into the start of the gay mardi gras,” Farley told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Now, I can tell you, this gentleman comes from pretty conservative roots down there in Tennessee, and he was taken aback by it. But by the end of the night, we walked a couple of hundred – three or 400m into it – and it was a great night of entertainment.” Farley confirmed he would not attend the event again this year, and clarified his own stance: “It’s a cultural celebration for that group of people … am I for it? No, not really. But I’m not against it, put it like that.”
Farley went on to frame the differing views within One Nation as a sign of the party’s broad inclusivity, rather than a flaw. He described the party as a “pretty broad church” that draws a diverse range of members from different backgrounds. “You look across our party now, sometimes I walk into the different offices and consider that wow, we’re part of the United Nations,” he said. “Sometimes I walk into it and I see part of it, I go, well, we’re part of the Gay mardi gras already. I think, you know, One Nation represents all Australians. We don’t have to align ourselves with one side or the other. We just want Australians to prosper, have a healthy life, a happy life, and a good life, and those choices, what we’re talking about now, are up to the individual.”
The split public comments have reignited debate over One Nation’s positioning on social issues, following weeks of controversy over the party’s internal messaging around the LGBTQI+ community.