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'You came here baying for my blood': Hanson's denial and defiance on guns scandal
By Deborah Snow, Michael Koziol and Nick Bonyhady
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has come out swinging in defence of her chief of staff James Ashby and Queensland party leader Steve Dickson after al-Jazeera's exposure of the pair's secret dealings with the American gun lobby.
Claiming her party is under attack from an "undercover operative" for an "Islamist organisation", Ms Hanson gave a media conference flanked by the two aides, saying secret recordings of their statements in Washington had been "heavily edited" and that she was giving them a second chance.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, flanked by party officials James Ashby (left) and Steve Dickson on Thursday.Credit: AAP
"Al-Jazeera and media within this country have tried to destroy One Nation but it has backfired" she said. "Instead we stand here today, united, even stronger."
Ms Hanson said she had never sought donations or political guidance from the US National Rifle Association, despite Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson discussing possible multi-million dollar donations during their US visit.
Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:
The footage was secretly recorded by al-Jazeera's Rodger Muller, who posed as a firearms advocate in a three-year sting operation.
Ms Hanson also denied that her party wanted to water down Australia's tough gun laws.
The One Nation leader opened fire against Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has now promised the Liberals will preference One Nation after Labor at the forthcoming federal election.
"You, Prime Minister have just handed the keys to the Lodge to Bill Shorten, Di Natale and the CFMEU," Ms Hanson said. "You're a fool. To the media here today, you have come here baying for my blood and I will not give it to you."
Ms Hanson disowned remarks captured in the al-Jazeera documentary in which she appeared to entertain conspiracy theories that the Port Arthur massacre was not carried out by perpetrator Martin Bryant, or not by him alone.
She said those remarks had been "heavily edited" and "do not reflect how I feel about those tragedies that occurred in 1996. There is no question in my mind that Martin Bryant was the only person responsible."
In the documentary, Ms Hanson could be heard referencing an unnamed MP's 1987 prediction that Australia's gun laws would only be tightened once there had been a mass shooting in Tasmania.
This eerily prescient remark, made by then NSW premier Barrie Unsworth in December 1987, has often been used by conspiracy theorists to suggest some kind of state-backed actor was involved in the Port Arthur attack, much to the distress of the families of the 35 victims.
On Thursday, Mr Unsworth slammed his 1987 remarks being used in this way, saying the al-Jazeera program had done the country a great service.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that in 1987, his government banned semi-automatic weapons after two multi-fatality shootings in Victoria, one of which was the Hoddle Street massacre.
Former NSW premier Barrie Unsworth says the al-Jazeera documentary has done Australia a great service.Credit: Brendan Esposito
Then Labor premier of Victoria John Cain had rung him for advice and they decided to press then prime minister Bob Hawke to host a national summit in December 1987 to try and achieve a national ban on semi-automatics.
The two non-Labor governments of Queensland and Tasmania dug their heels in, Mr Unsworth said. "Getting towards the end of the day, Hawke said to me, 'we're not getting anywhere, go out and tell media where we're up to'."
Mr Unsworth did so, telling journalists 'we can't get national agreement, quite frankly you are not going to get anywhere unless there is a shooting in some small place in Tasmania'. I said that because I had the Tasmanians in the front of my mind. That's all ... I went back inside and the whole thing wrapped up."
Mr Unsworth says he believed he lost the subsequent state election because of his gun laws, which were subsequently wound back.
We can't get national agreement ... you are not going to get anywhere unless there is a shooting in some small place in Tasmania
Former NSW premier Barrie Unsworth in 1987
Former senator and gun enthusiast David Leyonhjelm – now on the cusp of being elected to the NSW upper house – told the Herald and The Age on Thursday there were "legitimate" questions about Port Arthur, though he denied being a conspiracy theorist himself.
"People say 'well what is there to know about Port Arthur'. Well there's actually a lot," he said. "The solution is let's have an inquiry and let some of them at least go away.
Former senator David Leyonhjelm says there were "legitimate" questions about Port Arthur.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"There are a lot of questions that would be resolved by an inquiry. It may well be that there are good answers to them. There are assertions – I'm not asserting these myself – but there are people who say there was more than one shooter.
"There are people who say that people were killed with head shots which would require substantial marksmanship which [Martin] Bryant didn't have.
"There's several other questions that keep coming up. I think they deserve to be answered."
Tim Fischer, who was deputy prime minister when John Howard achieved a national ban on military-style weapons in 1996, told Sky News that he had a "deep-seated concern" that One Nation had engaged with the "deadly evil playbook of the NRA … and we have not seen much condemnation of those links from Pauline Hanson."
Mr Fischer said Ms Hanson should not have exonerated her staff before the airing of part two of the documentary on the ABC on Thursday night. However, Ms Hanson said the ABC was acting unethically in airing the program.
Lesley Podesta, chief executive of the Alanah and Madeline Foundation which was founded by Walter Mikac in memory of his wife and daughters slaughtered at Port Arthur, said she was happy Ms Hanson "accepts reality now" in relation to the 1996 massacre.
But she added, "What did not ring true to me today whatsoever is that she [Hanson] said they stand for strong gun laws. That's not the case. They absolutely believe in undermining the national firearms agreement.
Their policies, the work that they have, the campaigns that they've run in state elections have been all about that."