Pauline Hanson has been caught on a hot mic making a rude remark about a journalist following a tense exchange at a press conference.
The One Nation leader muttered “I said you’re the nasty b....” after her staffer told a reporter to “shut up” as questions were being shut down.
The incident unfolded as Senator Hanson spoke to media on the sidelines of an oil and gas producers event in Adelaide.
During the press conference, she was questioned about her party’s stance on fracking, offshore drilling and upcoming Senate candidates before the interaction was abruptly cut short.
“We’re done, thank you. No, no, no. Shut up. We’re done,” adviser Richard Henderson said to a journalist as he moved to end the scrum.
“Did you just say shut up?” the reporter responded.
Footage shows Senator Hanson walking away with her team before briefly speaking with MP Barnaby Joyce, who told her she had done “very well”.
Moments later, she was heard making the off-the-cuff remark: “I said you’re the nasty b.....”
The comment drew laughter from Mr Henderson and Mr Joyce, before Senator Hanson added: “Do you want me to go back and I’ll tell her?”
She then proceeded to turn around and seemingly appeared like she was going to confront the journalist.
The heated exchange is not the first time an off-mic moment involving Senator Hanson and her team has made headlines.
On the eve of the Farrer by-election, her chief of staff James Ashby was filmed asking ABC regional journalists to leave a campaign event.
“Bye bye to the ABC,” Mr Ashby said, adding: “See you later guys.”
A confused Senator Hanson questioned the move at the time.
“Why, if they’re local ABC? Rural and regional?” she asked.
“Because they’re reporting back to ABC Canberra,” Mr Ashby replied.
“They shouldn’t have gone,” Senator Hanson said.
Senator Hanson was in Adelaide promoting One Nation’s latest gas policy.
Earlier, she outlined a proposal for the Federal Government to take a 30 per cent equity stake in new gas projects, describing them as “miracle” ventures.
Senator Hanson used a speech at the Australian Energy Producers Conference to outline plans to discount oil and gas exploration in a bid to increase Australia’s sovereign wealth.
The policy, similar to that used in Norway, would include a 30 per cent rebate on oil and gas exploration in Australia.
In exchange, the Commonwealth would take a financial stake of up to 30 per cent in oil and gas projects, with profits directed into a sovereign wealth fund.
The government’s share of the gas and oil extracted would be directed into fertiliser, fuel refining and energy production.
The petroleum resource rent tax would be scrapped and replaced with a royalty scheme.
“This flexibility will maximise value for Australians while encouraging industry participation,” Senator Hanson said.
“One Nation would ensure the (wealth fund) board consists of only industry experts who have had success in the oil and gas industry, not government-appointed bureaucrats.”
The One Nation leader hit out at a campaign to impose a 25 per cent windfall tax on gas exports
“These activists simply want to destroy our gas industry and push their green agenda scam. It’s nothing more than economic vandalism,” she said.
“The tax would apply to the total value of all gas exports and destroy the economics of the entire industry. That is their goal.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the party’s plan would allow the Australian people to become part-owners in the nation’s natural resources.
“That’s what the Australian people want. They want a form of ownership” he told reporters in Adelaide.
“This would be positive on the Australian balance sheet.”
But Resources Minister Madeleine King said Norway’s position was very different from Australia’s, given most of the east coast’s gas supply came from hydraulic fracturing and coal seam gas.
Norway has very few onshore gas resources.
“For One Nation to cherry-pick parts of a system of another country ... just speaks to their lack of knowledge of our gas system and, by the sounds of it, our political system as well,” she told reporters in Perth.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he would not back any additional charges on the sector.
“I have only just seen the policy, but let me tell you, I don’t support putting more taxes on oil and gas, which I think is part of that policy,” he said.
But Senator Hanson said the plan would be centred on investment, not a “takeover” of the industry.
Earlier, in his own speech at the Adelaide conference, Mr Taylor called for the industry to be more vocal about government policies in the sector.
“You need to start making noise. You need to use every campaign tool at your disposal - especially social media. Push back against your detractors,” he said.
“We are going to have to fight like hell. That’s where we are at now.”
Mr Taylor, who wants all net-zero goals scrapped, used his budget reply speech earlier in May to call on the government to lift fuel baseline stockholding levels from 30 to 60 days.
He said the coalition would allow for smaller oil and gas companies to be incentivised to carry out explorations.
“Australia needs energy abundance. We must get busy digging and drilling, but we have a government that isn’t interested in these things,” he said.
The coalition would also establish an $800 million fuel security facility to boost storage capacity, with a focus on diesel.
He wants to speed up project approvals for drilling projects, particularly in Bass Strait.
- with AAP
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