Pauline Hanson has launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, claiming Labor lacks a genuine mandate to pursue its net zero emissions agenda – because the majority of Australians didn’t give the party their first preference at the election.
In a fiery exchange with 10 News political reporter Ashleigh Raper, the One Nation leader dismissed the government’s legitimacy on climate reform, arguing: that ’65 per cent of Australians didn’t give Labor their first preference’.
‘Doesn’t the science and the election results tell us that people don’t want us to have this debate anymore,’ Raper asked, suggesting Hanson’s motion to scrap net zero was not supported by the majority.
But Hanson hit back.
‘No, you’re wrong. When I put up the notice motion on my Facebook page, in less than a day it got 90,000 likes, 9,000 comments and 9,000 shares – and people are interested in it.’
Raper then said: ‘But does not the election result suggest something different? Labor were put in place with an overwhelming mandate – it was very clear what they would put in force.’
But Hanson questioned this.
‘Sorry, a mandate – of what? 35 per cent? 65 per cent of Australians did not vote their number one vote to Labor. Are you saying Labor has a mandate? No, they have not.’
Labor received 34.56 per cent of first-preference votes in the House of Representatives.
Pauline Hanson (pictured) claims her long-standing views on migration have been vindicated
Pauline Hanson claims Albanese has ‘no real mandate’ to push net zero reforms – and insists most Aussies don’t support Labor’s agenda after ‘only 35 per cent ’ gave them first-preference votes
However, Australia uses preferential voting, not first-past-the-post, meaning a party can win government even without a majority of first-choice votes, as long as they win enough seats through preferences.
In the May 2025 election, Labor achieved a landslide victory, winning 94 of 150 seats in the House of Representatives – far surpassing the 76‑seat threshold needed for majority control.
Hanson claims her prediction about Australia came true
For nearly 30 years, Hanson has built her political brand on a tough stance against immigration.
Now, as Australia faces a worsening housing crisis amid record-high migration, she says the nation is finally realising she was right all along.
Fresh from doubling One Nation’s Senate numbers at the May election, Hanson claims more Australians are aligning with her long-held views.
In an interview with 10 News First, the One Nation leader said she feels vindicated in her warnings about the impacts of mass migration, arguing the system is now clearly broken and hurting everyday Australians.
‘A lot of people say we should’ve listened to her years ago,’ she said.
‘But Australians have now come on board, because now it’s impacting them.
‘They know the generations coming through possibly will never own their own home.’
Hanson said she isn’t against immigration, but it has to be done in ‘managed way.’
‘If we don’t wake up to ourselves, we’re going to be a third world country, and that’s exactly where we’re going,’ she said.
Federal data shows net overseas migration reached historic highs in 2024, with more than 500,000 arrivals
Pauline Hanson says she has few friends in parliament and no relationship with the PM
In her controversial 1996 maiden speech to Parliament, Pauline Hanson warned that Australia was in ‘danger of being swamped by Asians,’ and claimed most Australians wanted the nation’s immigration policy radically reviewed.
Two decades later, in her first Senate speech in 2016, she argued the country was now at risk of being ‘swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.’
The latest federal data shows net overseas migration reached historic highs in 2024, with more than 500,000 arrivals – numbers economists say have intensified pressure on rental markets and home prices.
Next year, Australia will increase its near-record number of international student places by 25,000 to 295,000, despite a Reserve Bank report finding that the soaring number of international students is putting pressure on the housing market during a time of high construction costs.
In cities absorbing the bulk of new arrivals, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and increasingly Brisbane, competition for rentals is fierce, sending rents and house prices soaring.
While the Albanese government defends migration as critical to economic growth and filling workforce gaps, Hanson argues it’s creating deeper divides and resentment.
But it’s unlikely Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will listen, with Hanson stating her relationship with him is non-existent.
She argued policies like Net Zero and high immigration don’t reflect the will of the majority.
Record migration has been partly blamed for rising house prices and rents in Australia
International student places will soar by 25,000 to 295,000 next year, a move that has economists worried
‘I’m not anti-renewables. I put some solar panels on my roof at home this year,’ she said.
But what she is opposed to is putting ‘millions’ of solar panels on agricultural land. She has also been vocal in her support of keeping coal-fired power stations open and is pro-nuclear.
While critics say Hanson’s rhetoric remains inflammatory, she said her party has evolved past being anti-immigration – despite calls to cut immigration by more than 570,000 people from current Labor levels to ease pressure on housing.
She credits her expanding reach with younger voters to her animated video series Please Explain, which, among other things, satirises what Hanson portrays as Australia’s ‘addiction’ to rising migration, linking it to housing stress.
Many episodes underscore Hanson’s core message that unchecked immigration is incompatible with social cohesion and national values.
But Hanson said she won’t back down, and believes her legacy lies in her conviction to stand up without fear or favour in her quest to deliver a fair go for all Australians.
‘People want that from their politicians,’ she said.
‘I’ve had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at me. Guess what? I’m still standing and the problem is people have underestimated me.’
