The Performance of Power – Pauline Hanson and the Politics of Self-Promotion

Dedicated to my wife – who wants to see a future for all children, no matter where their parents came from.

The Spectacle of Absence

On X, Pauline Hanson announced: “I’ll be speaking at CPAC Great Britain next month, where the Australia we know today was born. I have always said we need to learn the lessons of other countries that are further down the path of multiculturalism and net-zero than we are. We don’t have to make the same mistakes here in Australia.”

Before examining what she says, we must first ask: what does she do? The answer is instructive – and damning.

The Record: 12% Presence, 100% Performance

Research by the Parliamentary Library revealed that Senator Pauline Hanson has attended just 12 per cent of Senate estimates hearing days over her 10 years in the Senate. Or to put it another way: she has missed almost nine out of every 10 days – all but 28 of 239 days scheduled for grilling ministers and officials over the use of taxpayer funds and the administration of programs.

This is not a minor oversight. Senate estimates are the primary mechanism through which senators hold the government to account. They are where policy is interrogated, where waste is exposed, where the work of representation is done.

Hanson, it seems, has other priorities.

Instead of interrogating Labor’s policies, she performs for cameras and crowds.

She has missed 12 days of parliament since the election, including to attend political events at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As well as often skipping Senate estimates and the other “lower profile responsibilities” of parliamentarians.

She is paid a salary of $340,900 per year. For that salary, she attends 12% of the hearings that matter. She is not a worker. She is a brand.

CPAC: A Global Platform for a Local Performance

CPAC – the Conservative Political Action Conference – was founded in 1974 by the American Conservative Union. It began as a gathering of dedicated conservatives; Ronald Reagan gave the inaugural keynote. Over time, it has evolved into an international platform for right-wing figures seeking to build networks, attract donors, and market themselves to a global audience.

CPAC is not an Australian institution. It does not represent Australian values. It is a global club for people who share a very specific – and very narrow – worldview.

Hanson’s attendance at CPAC is not about learning lessons for Australia. I am of the opinion it is about self-promotion. It is about networking. It is about fundraising.

She is not attending because she wants to make Australia better. She is attending – in my view – because she wants to make herself more visible.

The Foreign Interests: Guns and Lobbyists

Hanson’s engagement with foreign interests is not limited to speaking fees and photo opportunities.

In 2019, senior One Nation officials were recorded soliciting political donations from powerful American gun lobbyists. The secret recordings revealed they wanted millions of dollars in political donations from America’s National Rifle Association (NRA) and discussed softening One Nation policies on gun ownership as they tried to secure the funding.

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is documented fact. One Nation, Australia’s most prominent far-right political party, was soliciting donations from the notorious US group, and looking for ways to soften the country’s famously tough gun laws.

The party has also been accused of seeking to weaken Australia’s gun laws in exchange for NRA funding. The implications are clear: a foreign lobby group – one that has actively opposed gun control in its own country – was being given influence over Australian policy in exchange for cash.

The Israeli Flag and the Zionist Lobby

Hanson has not limited her foreign engagements to the United States. She has draped herself in the Israeli flag in parliament – a deliberate statement of allegiance to a foreign state. She has attached herself to “any status quo establishment power that promised her personal…” advancement.

This is not about supporting the Jewish community. Perhaps it is about signalling – to donors, to lobbyists, to the networks that fund her. It is about positioning herself as a reliable ally of foreign interests, in exchange for their support.

One Nation’s relationship with the Israeli lobby could be part of a broader pattern: a willingness to subordinate Australian interests to foreign agendas, provided those agendas serve Hanson’s personal political ambitions.

The Donor: Gina Rinehart and the Billionaire’s Network

Hanson’s relationship with mining billionaire Gina Rinehart is well-documented. Rinehart has been bankrolling One Nation since December 2025. In March 2026, it was revealed that Hanson charged taxpayers $8,870 for a private plane to attend an event honouring Rinehart.

The donations are substantial. Former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles and mining geologist Ian Plimer have each donated $500,000. Both are reported to be heads of firms operated by Rinehart. One Nation’s donations are close to $3 million. And did I mention the plane? A nice little gift from Rinehart valued at $1,000,000.

Rinehart has used her private jet to host One Nation donors for fundraising dinners. She has brokered $300,000 of donations from three Australian fund managers for a dinner with Donald Trump.

This is not grassroots politics. This is a wealth extraction operation disguised as a populist movement. One Nation’s policies serve the interests of its donors – not the battlers Hanson claims to represent.

The Policies: What She Actually Stands For

When Hanson does articulate policy, the results are revealing.

She wants to shut down SBS and gut the ABC. She likens transgender rights to Islamic extremism. She demands workers’ rights be cut to help small business.

On climate, she has directly blamed the “hoax” of climate change for driving up energy prices – echoing the language of Donald Trump and other right-wing figures.

Her housing policy has been described as a “train wreck” by critics, with multiple One Nation MPs unable to explain it. She was forced to clarify the policy after her own colleagues gave disastrous interviews.

On multiculturalism, she has called for Australia to reject diversity and “live under the one cultural umbrella.” She objected to two aspects of modern Australia in particular: the number of people who were born overseas, and the number who spoke a language other than English at home.

Her 2026 National Press Club speech was described by advocacy groups as using “hatred for political gain.” The Greens said Hanson was echoing “rubbish” lines from rightwing figures in the UK and US.

The Geopolitical Risk: Isolation and Consequences

Hanson’s rhetoric and associations carry risks that extend beyond domestic politics.

Her embrace of the Israeli flag and Zionist lobby, her ties to US gun lobbyists, and her alignment with global right-wing networks all signal a willingness to subordinate Australian interests to foreign agendas.

This has implications for Australia’s relationships with its regional partners. Australia’s major trading partners – including China – have no interest in a politician who embraces monoculturalism and foreign entanglements. Malaysia, Indonesia, and other regional nations have already recognised Palestinian statehood and maintain critical economic relationships with Australia.

The current closure of the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates how quickly geopolitical tensions can disrupt global trade. If Australia were to become isolated from its regional partners through Hanson’s pursuit of foreign agendas, the consequences would be severe.

This is not an unreasonable thought. It is a risk assessment – one that Hanson and her donors have not bothered to make.

Conclusion: The Performance and the Price

Pauline Hanson is not a senator. She is a performer – one who has discovered that outrage is profitable, that fear is marketable, and that attention is currency.

Her record:

• 12% attendance at Senate estimates.
• $4.3 million raised from donors.
• $8,870 in taxpayer funds for a private plane to honour a billionaire.
• Foreign entanglements with the NRA and the Israeli lobby.

She is a symptom – not of a broken system, but of a system that rewards performance over substance, attention over work, and self-promotion over service.

The price of this performance is paid by the people she claims to represent: the battlers, the forgotten, the ordinary Australians who need a senator who will show up.

She does not show up.

She performs.

And the performance is expensive.