Pauline Hanson says she’s sorry ‘if I offended people’ with Indigenous Australians remarks
Guardian AU
•Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:42:24 GMT
📰 What Happened
Pauline Hanson made a qualified apology on Tuesday 15 September 2026 after describing Indigenous Australians as the 'most primitive race on Earth' in a September 2025 podcast, comments first reported by News24 on Monday. She told News24 she regretted using the term if it upset people and said hurting people was not her intention, having earlier in the day refused to apologise, and later, in the corridors of Parliament House, said that if she offended people by using the word 'primitive' then she would apologise for that. Northern Territory Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price rebuked her again, saying Hanson had demonstrated wilful ignorance and that her tone and inflection mattered. Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy condemned the comments on the ABC as deeply hurtful, completely wrong and dehumanising, and the Australian Human Rights Commission, through social justice commissioner Katie Kiss, issued a statement denouncing the remarks. Crossbench senators discussed a possible censure motion, and Hanson also walked back criticism of the prime minister's mother over living in public housing, saying she was referring to housing commission at the time.
🔍 The Backstory
The apology followed a week of controversy for Hanson, including the criticism of Anthony Albanese's mother and a One Nation cartoon that repeatedly called Liberal MP and former SAS veteran Andrew Hastie a traitor. Hanson has been censured before, once earlier in 2026 over what were described as inflammatory and divisive comments about Australian Muslims, and again in late 2025 over a burqa stunt, so a further censure motion is a familiar step rather than an unprecedented one. The podcast comments date from September 2025 but surfaced only now through News24's reporting, which is why the reaction was rapid and cross-party. One Nation's rising political profile has made the question of how other parties respond to Hanson's remarks more consequential than in previous cycles.
🎯 Why It Matters
The episode tests whether the parliament is willing to censure Hanson again and whether that mechanism has any effect, given she has been censured twice already. First Nations people and organisations, including the Human Rights Commission, are making the case that the language dehumanises and causes real harm, which is why figures from across the political spectrum criticised it. Hanson's qualified rather than unqualified apology leaves the political argument open, and the censure discussions among crossbenchers mean the story is likely to continue into the parliamentary week. The reactions also matter for the Coalition, which has to decide how hard to push against One Nation while competing for overlapping voters.
Pauline Hanson made a qualified apology on Tuesday 15 September 2026 after describing Indigenous Australians as the 'most primitive race on Earth' in a September 2025 podcast, comments first reported by News24 on Monday. She told News24 she regretted using the term if it upset people and said hurting people was not her intention, having earlier in the day refused to apologise, and later, in the corridors of Parliament House, said that if she offended people by using the word 'primitive' then she would apologise for that. Northern Territory Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price rebuked her again, saying Hanson had demonstrated wilful ignorance and that her tone and inflection mattered. Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy condemned the comments on the ABC as deeply hurtful, completely wrong and dehumanising, and the Australian Human Rights Commission, through social justice commissioner Katie Kiss, issued a statement denouncing the remarks. Crossbench senators discussed a possible censure motion, and Hanson also walked back criticism of the prime minister's mother over living in public housing, saying she was referring to housing commission at the time.
The apology followed a week of controversy for Hanson, including the criticism of Anthony Albanese's mother and a One Nation cartoon that repeatedly called Liberal MP and former SAS veteran Andrew Hastie a traitor. Hanson has been censured before, once earlier in 2026 over what were described as inflammatory and divisive comments about Australian Muslims, and again in late 2025 over a burqa stunt, so a further censure motion is a familiar step rather than an unprecedented one. The podcast comments date from September 2025 but surfaced only now through News24's reporting, which is why the reaction was rapid and cross-party. One Nation's rising political profile has made the question of how other parties respond to Hanson's remarks more consequential than in previous cycles.
The episode tests whether the parliament is willing to censure Hanson again and whether that mechanism has any effect, given she has been censured twice already. First Nations people and organisations, including the Human Rights Commission, are making the case that the language dehumanises and causes real harm, which is why figures from across the political spectrum criticised it. Hanson's qualified rather than unqualified apology leaves the political argument open, and the censure discussions among crossbenchers mean the story is likely to continue into the parliamentary week. The reactions also matter for the Coalition, which has to decide how hard to push against One Nation while competing for overlapping voters.