标签： Oceania

An emotional address at a Western Australian business community event has thrust One Nation leader Pauline Hanson back into the Australian political spotlight, as senior moderate Liberal Party figures publicly push for a formal electoral arrangement between the two conservative parties ahead of the next federal poll.

The 71-year-old One Nation founder became visibly tearful during her Thursday speech to the Swan Chamber of Commerce in Perth’s eastern suburbs, opening up about two of the most traumatic chapters of her personal and political life: her 2003 conviction for election fraud that landed her 11 weeks behind bars, and allegations of domestic abuse during her second marriage.

Hanson’s conviction was ultimately overturned on appeal, but in her address she doubled down on long-held claims that the legal case against her was a coordinated political witch hunt, organized by two of Australian politics’ most prominent conservative and Labor figures: former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie.

She detailed how Beattie’s Queensland government changed state electoral laws retroactively ahead of her trial, expanding the maximum penalty from a six-month prison sentence or fine to seven years, a change that allowed the judge to sentence her to three years behind bars per conviction. Against that backdrop, Hanson claimed Abbott arranged a secret slush fund to bankroll the legal challenge against her, convincing 10 high-profile Australian donors to contribute $10,000 each to the effort. Though she could not name all donors, she confirmed at least one was based in Western Australia.

The One Nation leader said the hardest part of her time in prison was the impact on her three children, who were left without parental support at the time—their fathers were absent, leaving Hanson as their only primary caregiver. “Through politics, they’ve had to wear so much,” Hanson told the crowd, wiping away tears. But she shared that her children have recently told her the ordeal taught them critical life skills: “it hasn’t been easy, but you’ve taught us resilience to be independent, to stand on our own two feet, and for that we thank you.” This is not the first time Hanson has opened up about the experience: earlier this year, she teared up during an interview with Nine Network host Karl Stefanovic, recalling that she never imagined she would end up in prison and called the experience devastating.

After discussing her prison ordeal, Hanson also spoke publicly for the first time about past domestic violence during her second marriage, which ended in divorce in 1987. “I won’t go into detail … We split up in 1987 and from that time I’ve actually have been a single woman,” she said, adding that she has had a small number of long-term relationships but never remarried. “it’s not something for me.”

Hanson also used the event to confirm that her daughter Lee, who ran unsuccessfully as a One Nation candidate in the 2025 federal election and currently works as a staffer for one of the party’s sitting senators, will run as the party’s Senate candidate at the next federal election. “I don’t believe in jobs for the boys, and either you can cut it or you can’t. Because what I’m trying to do, what I’m trying to achieve, you need the right people around you to drive it. And that’s why I think she’s going to be a great asset,” Hanson said, noting that she has no plans to bring her sons into her political operation.

Hanson’s emotional appearance comes as senior Liberal Party figures ramp up pressure on opposition leader Angus Taylor to strike a formal preference-sharing and seat division deal with One Nation, as the right-wing populist party continues to climb in national opinion polls. Liberal frontbencher Tony Pasin became the most senior Liberal MP to publicly call for a deal this week, urging the opposition to negotiate a seat arrangement that would see the two parties avoid splitting conservative votes in marginal electorates. Taylor has not rejected the proposal outright, leaving the door open to a deal in recent public comments. Tony Abbott, who now serves as Liberal Party national president and was named by Hanson as the architect of her 2003 legal challenge, has already publicly backed a potential preference swap between the two parties.

Almost four years after her high-profile sexual assault allegation against a former parliamentary colleague rocked Australian politics, Brittany Higgins has announced a formal return to the national political sphere, taking on a leadership role dedicated to pushing back against growing misogyny and the mainstreaming of far-right ideological positions across the country.

The appointment was made public by the Vida Fund, an Australian advocacy organisation that works to support independent female candidates running on platforms of gender equality reform. Higgins will step into the role of executive director, tasking herself with building and rolling out a new national gender equality strategy to keep equity at the forefront of Australian political discourse.

In her first public remarks following the appointment, Higgins framed the move as a timely response to shifting political tides. “We are entering a period where misogyny, extremism are becoming increasingly organised and visible. Vida intends to meet that moment with evidence-based advocacy, strategic campaigning and community-backed action,” she said.

She specifically called out right-wing political groups for normalising anti-gender rhetoric, noting that “One Nation and the new right are trying to mainstream misogyny on a scale Australians have never seen before.” Higgins also targeted former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, criticising his push for restrictions on reproductive rights that echo divisive U.S. conservative policy battles, adding “it has never been more important to get organised and take action.”

This role marks Higgins’ first formal permanent position within Australian political advocacy after her 2021 allegation that she was raped by then-parliamentary colleague Bruce Lehrmann inside Parliament House. Lehrmann has consistently denied all allegations against him. A 2022 criminal trial against Lehrmann was aborted after juror misconduct, and all criminal charges were subsequently dropped. However, when Lehrmann launched a civil defamation suit against media outlet Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over their reporting of the allegation, the Federal Court ruled on the balance of probabilities that the rape did occur, leading Lehrmann to lose the case.

In the years following the initial allegation, Higgins and her husband David Sharaz have faced ongoing legal battles. Most recently, former senator Linda Reynolds, who was Higgins’ boss at the time of the alleged incident, launched a defamation suit against the pair over a series of critical social media posts about Reynolds’ handling of the allegation. The WA Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds’ favour, ordering Higgins and Sharaz to pay $341,000 in damages, a ruling that ultimately left the couple bankrupt.

A fierce political clash has erupted over the Albanese government’s sweeping planned changes to Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), with state and territory governments launching an extraordinary rebuke of proposals that would remove an estimated 160,000 participants from the scheme to cut billions in spending. The federal government’s legislative package, which aims to slash $35 billion in long-term expenditure by tightening provider requirements and shifting almost 200,000 people off NDIS rolls, has already cleared the lower house of parliament. It now faces a Senate vote following a ongoing parliamentary inquiry, and will require crossbench support from either the Coalition — which has signaled tentative backing for reform — or the Greens to pass. In their formal submission to the inquiry, state and territory health ministers acknowledge that the NDIS, which has ballooned since its launch, faces urgent systemic pressures: prior reviews have documented widespread financial strain, market distortion, rising fraud, and a gradual drift away from the scheme’s original core purpose. Ministers agree that targeted reform is necessary to keep the NDIS effective, participant-centered, and financially sustainable — but they argue the federal government’s current approach is disproportionate, rushed, and poorly coordinated. Critically, the subnational governments stress they never agreed to take on funding responsibility for the 160,000 people set to be removed from NDIS, including participants shifted to off-scheme foundational support programs such as Thriving Kids, which serves children with mild to moderate autism. “While elements of the proposed reforms have the potential to deliver improved outcomes, the Bill in its current form risks undermining the original intent of the NDIS,” the ministers wrote in their submission. They warn that the government’s laser focus on rapid expenditure cuts, paired with a lack of clear planning for a broader disability support ecosystem and insufficient consultation with subnational governments, creates a severe risk of fragmented, chaotic service delivery. Without a coordinated, carefully phased approach that integrates these changes with broader improvements to the national disability support system, the ministers argue, many people with disability could end up in inappropriate care settings such as hospitals, or lose access to critical support entirely. To address these gaps, the state and territory governments have put forward two key amendments: first, that the most fiscally impactful components of the bill can only proceed if they are agreed to by all states and territories; second, that the NDIS Act be updated to include a formal “Category A rule-making power” for outlining alternative support arrangements, and that the federal government clarify future NDIS pricing frameworks. The ministers note these recommendations align with agreements reached during a January meeting with federal officials, and that their submission focuses only on the most contentious section of the legislation, Schedule 1, with more concerns potentially to come. Another major flashpoint is the consolidation of extensive decision-making power in federal Health Minister Mark Butler, the submission argues. The proposed changes would allow Butler to enact long-lasting modifications to the scheme without adequate safeguards, parliamentary scrutiny, or agreement from state and territory co-governors. Specifically, the reforms would let the minister set binding caps, limits, or funding ratios for support categories and make broad changes to individual participant budgets via a simple determination, with no clear rules around how the powers would be applied, whether they would apply across the entire scheme, or which participants would be exempt. “This is a significant power with limited safeguards, and there is insufficient clarity about how these changes would operate in practice,” the submission reads. Amid growing cross-party and advocacy pushback, Butler has defended the government’s reform plan, telling reporters the government is monitoring the inquiry and reviewing thousands of public submissions closely, and will not make final adjustments until the inquiry concludes. He stressed that the government’s plan was carefully developed to put the NDIS back on a sustainable long-term footing, while still keeping people with disability at the center of the scheme. The inquiry has already heard damning testimony from disability advocates and NDIS participants, who have repeatedly urged parliament to reject the reforms in their current form.