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Firebrand Senator Pauline Hanson is weighing up a tilt at the lower house at the next federal election as her populist party builds momentum among voters.
The Queenslander is riding high off the back of One Nation winning seven spots in the South Australian state parliament, and consistent polling showing federal support for her party surpassing that of the coalition. Visiting Adelaide to watch her politicians be sworn in, Hanson confirmed she was considering running for a seat in the House of Representatives when her six-year term in the upper house wraps up in 2028.
“Yes, it is on the cards, and I have to consider that,” she told 5AA radio on Tuesday. “A lot of people criticise me ‘oh, she can’t get anywhere because she’s in the upper house’. “So don’t underestimate me, or what I may do. ” In the federal parliament, One Nation currently has one lower house seat after Barnaby Joyce defected from the Nationals; by convention, prime ministers only come from the House of Representatives, where governments are formed.
Hanson might contest the federal seat she lives in, One Nation chief of staff James Ashby revealed.
“If Barnaby chooses to stay in the lower house, you’ll have two very, very convincing, strong leaders that can lead a conservative Australia,” he told Sky News on Monday evening. The seats Hanson could contest are the electorates of Wright, held by the coalition’s Scott Buchholz by an almost eight per cent margin, or the Labor-held seat of Blair, where Shayne Neumann has a 5.7 per cent margin.
Hanson’s first tilt in federal politics was in the lower house, where she won the Queensland seat of Oxley in 1996 as an independent after being disendorsed by the Liberal Party. She later ran for the seat of Blair at the 1998 poll under the newly formed One Nation banner, following a seat redistribution, but did not get re-elected.
One Nation is tipped as a front-runner to claim the federal seat of Farrer at Saturday’s by-election, which is up for grabs after former Liberal leader Sussan Ley resigned following her ousting from the party’s top job earlier in 2026. David Farley is running as One Nation’s candidate and should he win, will become the party’s first representative to win a federal lower house seat at an election.
The right-wing party has four spots in the upper house, where the 71-year-old Senator Hanson is joined by senators Malcolm Roberts, Sean Bell, and Tyron Whitten.
Politics Federal Politics Politics One Nation (Political Party) Politics Pauline Hanson Politics News Queensland News
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