Pauline Hanson

Pauline Lee Hanson (née Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party.

Hanson was born Pauline Lee Seccombe on 27 May 1954 in Woolloongabba, Queensland.

She was the fifth of seven children (and the youngest daughter) to John Alfred "Jack" Seccombe and Hannorah Alousius Mary "Norah" Seccombe (née Webster).

She first received schooling at Buranda Girls' School, later attending Coorparoo State School in Coorparoo until she ended her education at age 15, shortly before her first marriage and pregnancy.

Jack and Norah Seccombe owned a fish and chip shop in Ipswich, Queensland, in which Hanson and her siblings worked from a young age, preparing meals and taking orders.

At an older age, she assisted her parents with more administrative work in bookkeeping and sales ledgering.

Hanson worked at Woolworths before working in the office administration of Taylors Elliotts Ltd, a subsidiary of Drug Houses of Australia (now Bickford's Australia), where she handled clerical bookkeeping and secretarial work.

She left Taylors Elliotts during her first pregnancy.

In 1978, Hanson (then Pauline Zagorski) met Mark Hanson, a tradesman on Queensland's Gold Coast.

They married in 1980 and established a construction business specialising in roof plumbing.

Hanson handled the administrative components of the company, similar to her work with Taylors Elliotts, while her husband dealt with practical labour.

In 1987, the couple divorced and the company was liquidated.

She moved back to Ipswich and worked as a barmaid at what was then Booval Bowls Club.

Hanson then bought a fish and chip shop with a new business partner Morrie Marsden.

They established the holding company Marsden Hanson Pty Ltd and began operations from their recently opened fish and chip shop in Silkstone, a suburb of Ipswich.

Hanson and Marsden both shared the administrative responsibilities of the company, but Hanson took on additional practical responsibilities, including buying supplies and produce for the shop and preparing the food, which was among many things that contributed to her notoriety during her first political campaign.

Hanson ran a fish and chip shop before entering politics in 1994 as a member of Ipswich City Council in her home state.

Hanson's first election to office was in 1994, earning a seat on the Ipswich City Council, on the premise of an opposition to extra funding.

She joined the Liberal Party of Australia in 1995 and was preselected for the Division of Oxley in Brisbane at the 1996 federal election.

She was disendorsed shortly before the election after making contentious comments about Aboriginal Australians, but remained listed as a Liberal on the ballot paper.

She held the seat for 11 months, before being removed in 1995 due to administrative changes.

Over time, Hanson acquired full control of the holding company, which was sold upon her election to Parliament in 1996.

In 1996, she joined the Liberal Party of Australia and was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the House of Representatives seat of Oxley, based on Ipswich, for the March 1996 Federal election.

At the time, the seat was thought of as a Labor stronghold.

The Labor incumbent, Les Scott, held it with an almost 15% two-party majority, making it the safest Labor seat in Queensland.

Because of this, Hanson was initially dismissed and ignored by the media believing that she had no chance of winning the seat.

However, Hanson received widespread media attention when, leading up to the election, she advocated the abolition of special government assistance for Aboriginal Australians, and she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party.

Ballot papers had already been printed listing Hanson as the Liberal candidate, and the Australian Electoral Commission had closed nominations for the seat.

As a result, Hanson was still listed as the Liberal candidate when votes were cast, even though Liberal leader John Howard had declared she would not be allowed to sit with the Liberals if elected.

On election night, Hanson took a large lead on the first count and picked up enough Democrat preferences to defeat Scott on the sixth count.

Hanson won the election and took her seat as an independent, before co-founding One Nation in 1997 and becoming its only MP.

She attempted to switch to the Division of Blair at the 1998 federal election but was unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, her newly formed party experienced a surge in popularity at the 1998 Queensland state election, garnering the second-highest number of votes of any party in the state.

After her defeat in 1998, Hanson unsuccessfully contested the 2001 election as the leader of One Nation but was expelled from the party in 2002.

A District Court jury found Hanson guilty of electoral fraud in 2003, but her convictions were later overturned by three judges on the Queensland Court of Appeal.

She spent 11 weeks in jail prior to the appeal being heard.

Following her release, Hanson ran in several state and federal elections, as the leader of Pauline Hanson's United Australia Party and as an independent before rejoining One Nation in 2013 and becoming leader again the following year.

She was narrowly defeated at the 2015 Queensland state election, but was elected to the Senate at the 2016 federal election, along with three other members of the party.

She was re-elected at the 2022 federal election.

Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian Senate since the 2016 Federal Election.