High-polling Pauline Hanson calls for new limits on New Zealand migration to Australia

Hanson 2.0 is capitalising on public frustration with soaring living costs, immigration angst, and a housing crisis – all issues New Zealand politics is grappling with too.

She talked to the Herald at a time when populist movements in New Zealand might be looking to her playbook ahead of our election campaign, and gave personal insights into the views that have made her the most instantly recognisable politician in Australia and beyond.

She would like Australia to be a monoculture, which she explains as “welcoming” and “not exclusive”, as long as everyone signs up to the same ideal.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed in its 2025 survey that 75% of Australians believe it’s good for society to be made up of a variety of different cultures – down from 85% in 2020.

In her speech to Parliament on June 24, Hanson said the Australian men’s national football team, the Socceroos, reflected her vision of this “monocultural” Australia – one where people from different backgrounds and cultures wear green and gold, representing one nation under a single flag and shared set of rules.

Socceroos winger Awer Mabil was among many who hit back, telling Australian media it was “bullshit” for Hanson to suggest Australia was not a successful multicultural society.

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson says she has no issue with Kiwis who have made Australia their home.

In her Press Club speech, Hanson name-checked Australian acting legend and star of Crocodile Dundee Paul Hogan, calling him an “essential feature of Australian monoculture”.

The comments sparked a public backlash and Hogan weighed in from California, calling her “so racist” in Australian media, comparing her to Trump and accusing her of “living in the past”.

The flame-haired leader is quick to tell the Herald she has no issue with Kiwis who have made Australia their home. In fact, she says she has a soft spot for them – she’s cruised through the South Island with her family and enjoyed the Warbirds Over Wānaka air show.

She says Kiwis worried about her racial rhetoric can relax – she will not target New Zealand Māori living in Australia.

“Why would I do that? If they are law-abiding, why get rid of them? A lot of people like to employ Kiwis – they work hard. Why remove those who want to work and don’t want to bludge on the system and abuse it?”

However, she is disgruntled by what she sees as other misuses of the immigration system, claiming some people have “ticked a box” to claim indigenous Australian identity to access jobs and benefits. “That’s wrong,” she says, “it’s abusing the taxpayer.”

The One Nation leader says she remains supportive of free and open movement between New Zealand and Australia, but she does want one big change.

Pauline Hanson objects to some migrants using New Zealand as a back door into Australia.

She believes some international migrants use New Zealand as a back door into Australia – and she objects to it.

“I don’t want that. New Zealand can’t afford to lose those migrants. I’d say you shouldn’t be able to migrate to Australia until you’ve been a New Zealand citizen for at least eight-10 years.”

Hanson also opposes Asian immigrants – famously and incorrectly claiming in her 1996 maiden speech that they “form ghettos and do not assimilate” – and she singles out Islam and Muslims. Hanson says she favours migrants who hold Western values.

“We’ve had more terrorist attacks in Australia through radicalisation, and I want to get rid of that. Do I want to bring in people who believe in Sharia law? No. Do I want people to wear burqas? No. I’m saying beware of who you allow into this country. And if they don’t have views that align with the Australian way of life, then I’m sorry, you are not welcome,” she says.

The worst terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history was carried out by an Australian – gunman Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in the Christchurch mosque shootings of 2019.

When asked about that, Hanson said, “Any attack of terrorism and a loss of life is disgraceful – it should never have happened.”

Pauline Hanson says the 2019 attack by an Australian man on two Christchurch mosques was disgraceful and should never have happened.

Last year, Hanson wore a burqa into the Senate chamber to protest the lack of a full-face covering ban in Australia – a repeat of a stunt she first pulled in 2017.

“I like to express my opinion, unlike others who just bury their heads in the sand. You only solve problems if you debate them.”

Then there are the things Hanson has no time for.

Religious and language diversity are among them.

“We are an English-speaking country. When you have 872,000 who said they could speak little or no English at all, that concerns me. How can they assimilate into our country and understand our laws? How do they know who to vote for?”

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson wore a burqa into the Senate Chamber last year and in 2017. Photo / AAP

This was one of several claims made by Hanson in her Press Club speech later revealed to be misleading – for example, a proportion of that number were babies and toddlers, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics had warned the figure was indicative and not definitive.

Another is climate change. Hanson dismisses the science, along with the net-zero target, with the same certainty she brings to most things she doesn’t like.

And – no surprises here – like New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Hanson doesn’t support gender diversity policies.

“There are only two sexes – male and female,” she says. “I’ve just tried to introduce another bill to go back to biological sex. I think we’re heading into a world of pain with the younger generations coming through, who can say at the drop of a hat, ‘You can choose whatever sex you want to be,’ or change their birth certificates. This is not common sense, right? It’s appealing to people’s whims, and it’s not natural; it’s wrong.”

Pauline Hanson says she is concerned about China in the Pacific, as is Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters (inset, Xi Jinping). Photo / Mark Mitchell / Getty Images

And, like Peters, she is concerned about relations with China in the Pacific.

“They’ve threatened to invade Taiwan, and if they do that, they won’t be on my best friends list. This is an ever-changing world.

“China is Australia’s biggest export market for products like wine and seafood, and they could pull the pin on us at any time. We should do business where it benefits Australia, but we should never allow another country to control us.”

Hanson rates Peters a political juggernaut – and one she’d like to get to know better.

“He’s the only one I know of. He has common sense; we’ve both been at the political game a long time. I don’t know his policies, but what I’ve read is he is a very proud New Zealander trying to do the best for his country. I respect that. I’ve only spoken to him once, so I’d better get over to New Zealand and introduce myself to him and meet the great man.”

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson grew up behind the counter of the family’s Brisbane fish and chip shop. Photo / Richard Robinson

Born Pauline Lee Seccombe, Hanson was the fifth of seven children who grew up behind the counter of the family’s Brisbane fish and chip shop, where everyone was expected to pitch in.

Hanson’s first husband was Walter Zagorski, a Polish refugee whom she married at the age of 16. They had two sons, Tony and Steven, before later divorcing.

Her second husband, Mark Hanson, was a tradesman on Queensland’s Gold Coast. They had two children, Adam and Lee.

After their divorce in 1987, Hanson returned to Ipswich, where she worked behind the bar at a bowling club before buying a fish-and-chip shop – a humble prelude to the public life that would follow.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson meeting US President Donald Trump’s son Eric.

Hanson entered federal politics in 1996, winning the Queensland seat of Oxley. She was initially selected as the Liberal Party candidate, but the party disendorsed her over comments about Aboriginal Australians that were widely condemned as racist.

She remained on the ballot as an independent and won. A year later, she founded One Nation.

Hanson has described herself as a struggling single mother who entered politics determined to be “a voice for the people”. Instead, she says, she found herself an outlier.

Pauline Hanson says it was a “man’s world” when she became a politician.

“It was a man’s world when I got here. I got into politics thinking I would be a voice for the people. I was told to keep quiet and do what the major parties wanted.”

The lowest point in Hanson’s life, she says, came in 2003 when she was convicted of three charges including electoral fraud and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment – convictions later overturned.

“Resilient,” Hanson says, is the word her four children use to describe her – a quality she says they have inherited.

Pauline Hanson says her four children describe her as “resilient.”

The apple may not have fallen far from the tree. Hanson is quietly proud of her daughter, Lee, who is standing as a One Nation Senate candidate in Tasmania. If she’s elected, they will become the first mother and daughter to serve in federal Parliament at the same time.

“It’s not a given. My daughter has the potential, but she must prove herself. It must be based on merit and the ability to do the job,” she says.

Does Hanson see a future for a One New Zealand party?

“Can I get Australia in order first before I even consider New Zealand?”

Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.