Pauline Hanson’s own words come back to bite her on Tommy Robinson

July 24, 2026 — 3:00am

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In this week’s On Background, the World Cup is coming home (to SBS), Pauline Hanson’s own words undermine One Nation’s defence on Tommy Robinson, and Kyle Sandilands goes back to the bank.

The wheels are well and truly falling off One Nation’s media operation. This week alone, we had Barnaby Joyce going barking mad on the ABC’s 7.30, more reports of conspiratorial comments made by Senator Malcolm Roberts, and Pauline Hanson’s clanging remarks on domestic violence. But this saga really kicked into high gear earlier this month with images of the politician’s convivial chats with British fascist and criminal Tommy Robinson, as documented by Seven’s Spotlight program on Sunday.

Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby have since been on the defence, claiming in a Sky News “exclusive” on Tuesday that the interview was a “stitch up” co-ordinated by Seven.

If it was a stitch-up, it was of a very funny kind, because Ashby even admitted he provided Seven with Robinson’s phone number, not the other way around.

During the Seven program, Hanson defended her decision to meet with Robinson several times, arguing she is “not like the other politicians” and that she won’t be forced to do anything she doesn’t want to.

“I will say and do what I want to, and I will talk to people if I feel, to spend time, to learn from them what is happening,” she continued.

And it was “harsh” to call Robinson a “convicted criminal”, Hanson said, even though that’s unequivocally what he is. Some of Robinson’s convictions include mortgage fraud, contempt of court and kicking an off-duty police officer lying on the floor in the head, after the man had tried to stop an altercation between Robinson and his own girlfriend at the time. He even spent time in the clink for using someone else’s passport to enter the United States. Talk about illegal immigration!

That rap sheet didn’t deter Hanson. “I am sorry, I am not going to back away from [meeting Robinson] whatsoever. I met Tommy and I listened to what he........

© WA Today