Pauline Hanson skips parliament to speak at conservative conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Pauline Hanson skipped parliament this week to speak at a $25,000-a-head conservative conference at Donald Trump’s luxury resort in Florida, where she was pictured alongside Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman. The One Nation leader, who resided at Mar-a-Lago ahead of her address at the multi-day event run by the Conservative Political Action Conference, lambasted both major parties in Australia during the speech while praising the US administration for deporting immigrants, bombing drug cartel boats and supercharging mining projects. Hanson’s speech on Wednesday US time covered a range of controversial issues she has espoused over her political career, including claims against “mass migration”, climate change, Indigenous rights and gender expression. “The scourge of drugs – especially fentanyl – is being tackled head on, and I love how your president has green-lit the US military to blow up drug cartel boats,” she said. Related: Australia’s immigration is not ‘out of control’ – it’s trending lower and has been for over a year “Australia, on the other hand, has become an economic and social tinderbox that was created by successive Labor and Coalition governments.” The Queensland senator criticised the Albanese government for “flooding” the country “with up to 740,000 migrants a year”. According to recent ABS figures, net overseas migration was at 316,000 in the year to March. Hanson claimed, without evidence or reference to data, that Australia was taking in migrants from “hateful, radical” backgrounds. “No wonder Australian police have their hands full. It didn’t happen by accident, and if you speak out about it – you’re branded Islamophobic, racist, or even a Nazi.” Over the weekend, Hanson was spotted at Trump’s 1920s-themed Halloween party, which was also attended by mining magnate Rinehart. Many of Hanson’s talking points are aligned with Rinehart, who has played a more visible role in influencing the Coalition and minor parties in recent years. Sign up: AU Breaking News email In one section of Hanson’s speech, she urged Australia to lift defence spending to at least 5% of GDP – a suggestion made by Rinehart at a speech during the federal election period in April. Hanson also echoed Trump’s pro-mining slogan – “drill, baby, drill” – in her speech to US conservative figures, another signal she is strongly aligned with Rinehart’s goals. Hanson’s minor party has been on the rise in recent months with its primary vote doubling to 13% since the May federal election, putting it above the Greens. Hanson told Sky News on Wednesday night that she had ambitions for a One Nation government one day but conceded it would take time. “It’s going to take me time to build the party, to eventually, hopefully, get in opposition or possibly government in the states, and in the federal,” she said. “Unless I have a go at it, you know, [the Coalition is] just going to keep sliding more to the left in line with Labor and their socialism.” The former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is reportedly considering running as a One Nation candidate at the next federal election after quitting the Nationals party last month.