Pauline Hanson has launched One Nation’s Victorian election campaign (August 3, 2026) with a familiar mix of culture-war politics, anti-establishment rhetoric and open contempt for the media she dislikes. While the party continues to present itself as a defender of “free speech,” its decision to bar the ABC, The Age and The Guardian from the campaign launch exposed the contradiction at the centre of Hanson’s politics: a party that demands scrutiny for everyone else, but recoils when scrutiny turns on itself.
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One Nation is positioning itself as a hard-right populist party built around free speech, anti-elite messaging and attacks on public institutions. Its own policy material repeatedly frames the party as a champion of free expression and an opponent of censorship.
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Hanson’s Victorian launch showed that the party’s definition of “free speech” is selective. The exclusion of three major outlets was justified as a response to “spin” and “lies,” but it also cut out scrutiny from the very institutions most likely to challenge her claims.
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The move fits a longer pattern of clashes with journalists and public broadcasters, with critics arguing One Nation uses media hostility as both a grievance and a political weapon.
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Ideologically, Hanson’s pitch remains rooted in nationalism, anti-multiculturalism, hostility to progressive identity politics, and a promise to slash or reshape institutions such as the ABC and SBS.
At the Savoy Hotel Melbourne on 3 August, Hanson announced Warren Pickering as One Nation’s Victorian leader and lower-house candidate for Pakenham, alongside eight candidates in total. Reporting says the event drew protesters and heavy police presence, while the media ban became the main story.
Hanson said she excluded the ABC and Guardian because she was “sick of” their reporting and wanted “truth and honesty” in coverage. The same coverage says The Age was also barred, and One Nation sources indicated it was unclear whether the ban would remain in place through the whole campaign.
The Victorian state election is scheduled for Saturday, 28 November 2026. One Nation has said it intends to contest all seats and will release more policies and candidates in the coming weeks.
