(Oscar Godsell’s post from the SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA on 31 May 2026.)
Pauline
Hanson says she’s ready to be Prime Minister of Australia, considering run for
lower house seat: One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has declared she’s ready to
be the Prime Minister of Australia and is considering running for a seat in the
House of Representatives.
Her
comments come after a recently published Redbridge-Accent Research seat-by-seat
projection showed One Nation could win more than 50 seats at an election. In
the wake of the polling, Ms Hanson told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda that she
believed she was capable of leading the country as prime minister.
“Do I want to be Prime Minister? Well, I tell you what, I won’t knock the job because I believe that I have the ability to do it,” she said. “I’m not going to underestimate myself or say, 'no, I can’t do it,' because you know, have a look at what we’ve got now. That’s why we’re in a mess.”
Ms
Hanson added that running for a seat in the House of Representatives, rather
than the Senate, was “in consideration” for the 2028 election. “It is in
consideration by all means, it is in the mix but I'm not making a decision
now... It will be based on political strategy as well,” she said.
Ms
Hanson went on to describe the Albanese government as the “worst” she had ever
seen in her 30 years of politics. “I see the destruction that's happened here.
We've lost over 1400 industries, manufacturing, 50,000 small businesses gone
insolvent,” she said. “This isn't the country that I grew up in. So, whether
it's Pauline Hanson as Prime Minister ... we've got someone else to take on
that job.”
Asked if she was confident she had the team around her to form a competent cabinet, Ms Hanson said, "You bet I do". “I (have) a great team around me and even those members of parliament that I have now, they're great, down to earth,” she said.
“It's
marvellous. You know, Barnaby Joyce, he's got a spring in his step. He's really
happy to be part of the party. He's got his voice, he is out there. And here's
a man who is former deputy prime minister of the nation, the portfolios that
he's had. … We've got a great team. I've got Cory Bernardi for South Australia.
What a great leader he is. A lot of good people. Don't underestimate David
Farley either, who won the seat of Farrer.”
Under the latest modelling, One Nation would form official opposition if an election were held today, winning 53 seats compared to just 12 for the Coalition. One Nation has also emerged as the most trusted political party to deal with immigration, on the back of a policy to cap visas at 130,000 per year.
Asked
whether her policy would drive up the cost of age care, due to an aging
population without enough workers, Ms Hanson said housing was a bigger issue. “Mass
migration means that the fact is we've got, you know, lack of housing, so
what's more important?” she said. “You don't care about people living in their
cars, families in tents in their caravans? So that's no problem to you
whatsoever? Well, that is an issue for me.”
Labor's
Cabinet Secretary Andrew Charlton recently acknowledg One Nation's surge, but
denied they were a viable political alternative. "It's clear that One
Nation's vote has been rising in the polls, there's no denying that. That's a
phenomenon that we've seen all around the world," he told Sunday Agenda.
"The
challenge with One Nation is they are very good at pointing out grievances.
They are much less good at providing solutions. We'll have to see what happens
between now and the next election, but clearly the best strategy for Labor is
to present real solutions to people."
Mr Charlton denied that his language was "putting One Nation down" after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the party appealed to people's "darkest forces".
Ms
Hanson on Sunday argued that One Nation was attracting votes from all sides of
politics, not just from the Coalition. "It's not just about Coalition,
it's about Labor, it is about the Greens, it is about everyone," Ms Hanson
said. I was sitting here just waiting to do the interview, a fellow walks past
and he said, 'oh, it was me!' and he comes back.
"He
said, 'You've got to get in there and make change to this country'. He said,
'I've been a Labor voter'. He said, 'No more. I'm not voting for them again'. "I
hear this constantly all the time. (People) are hurting so much.
They
want truth, honesty, they want clear policies. If you think I haven't got
policies, go and look at my website. "So that's another furphy that they
tell people. 'I don't have policies.' They pick up my policies all the
time."
