Pauline Hanson’s domestic violence comments were no stumble

Pauline Hanson said this week that domestic violence was a ‘two-way street’ and questioned why women did not simply leave abusive relationships. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP View image in fullscreen Pauline Hanson said this week that domestic violence was a ‘two-way street’ and questioned why women did not simply leave abusive relationships. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Analysis Pauline Hanson’s domestic violence comments were no stumble Ben Smee The One Nation leader has allied herself with men’s rights activists for years, consistently suggesting women routinely make false allegations of violence Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast For a decade, Pauline Hanson has been beating the same drum. Her comments this week – suggesting domestic violence was a “two-way street” and questioning why women did not simply leave abusive relationships – have caused significant concern and been labelled “dangerous” by experts and other commentators. But they are not, as they’ve been portrayed, another “gaffe” by the stumbling One Nation leader as she attempts to stabilise her party’s polls that show it might become a new electoral force in Australia. The comments make plain something that has been a driving force for the populist leader since her return to parliament in 2016. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email One Nation’s political ascendancy in recent months has been built on replicating anti-immigrant and hard right pivots in the United States and the UK. Hanson’s own second coming was built on an allyship with groups of anti-feminist men and heavily influenced by domestic violence allegations against her son, Adam Hanson, which she says were false. In 2019, Hanson used parliamentary privilege to call her former daughter-in-law “nasty” and accuse her of making false claims about her son. She has consistently – inside and outside parliament – made claims, rejected by experts and evidence, that suggest women routinely make false allegations of violence for advantage in the family law system. Speaking in 2017, on domestic violence orders, Hanson said: “Women, mostly women, are going around throwing them around left, right and centre.” In 2021 on Sky News, Hanson said: “There are men who have been accused of these things that didn’t, it didn’t happen. One Nation’s rise puts the next election in ‘unknown territory’ – but does Pauline Hanson really have a path to government? Read more “It shows you how lies and perjury are leading to the failure of Australia’s family law system and contributing to the death of 21 men by suicide and the murder of one woman each week.” The “21 men” figure has been repeatedly cited by Hanson, her colleague Malcolm Roberts, and others in One Nation as a campaigning point. The figure comes from a men’s rights organisation, the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers (ABF), and has been debunked by factcheckers . The ABF have been among Hanson’s biggest ch