Lidia Thorpe rebukes defiant Hanson over bus attack cartoon

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has defended a cartoon showing independent Senator Lidia Thorpe being run over by a bus, just days after independent MP Helen Haines was rammed by a car.

Hanson’s unapologetic stance in a Monday morning interview with radio station 2GB prompted Thorpe to accuse One Nation of leaving death threats against her unmoderated on its platforms for months.

On Sunday, AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett urged politicians to speak carefully as she drew a direct link between inflamed rhetoric and the rise in violent threats. She indicated, when asked about a One Nation clip of cartoon character Bluey driving down Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, that there was a reaction when “examples like that” were produced.

But Hanson is determined not to take down two cartoons showing politicians being run over, posting on X Sunday night that “they will not be going anywhere” and telling 2GB on Monday she would not apologise to Thorpe for the 2023 episode, Under the Bus.

“Look, this woman’s on the floor of parliament … You should see the hatred coming out of her mouth,” Hanson said.

“So don’t tell me about my cartoons because they’re satirical … And besides, that last episode happened years ago in the cartoon,” Hanson said.

The One Nation leader accused Barrett of deflecting responsibility for protecting Australians.

“You’ve got kids out there on streets with ‘kill Pauline Hanson’. ‘I hate Pauline Hanson’, ‘shoot Pauline Hanson’. What does the commissioner do about that? Absolutely nothing,” Hanson said.

“So don’t tell me about the cartoons because this is passing the buck where you haven’t been able to do your job, [to] make it safe for the same people.”

Thorpe said on Monday that Hanson should “think carefully about the example she is setting”.

“Making light of violence, particularly against women in this country, is a problem. It’s not something anyone should be joking about,” the senator told this masthead.

Thorpe added that she had reported a number of death threats posted by users on Hanson’s social media pages that had been left unmoderated by her team for months.

“If her supporters are making death threats against other politicians, that should be a red flag, and she should reflect on what sort of leadership qualities she is showing, and what sorts of things she is making light of. We can disagree fiercely about politics, we can have a laugh at each other, but making jokes about violence is not on.”

Hanson last week apologised for a separate cartoon mocking Tasmanian senator Jacquie Lambie for her battle with vaginal prolapse, and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce did offer an apology last month to Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who was labelled a traitor in another clip for testifying in the defamation case Ben Roberts-Smith has brought against Nine.

Monday’s clash comes on the same day parliament pays tribute to independent MP Helen Haines, who remains in hospital recovering from an attack last Monday afternoon in the Victorian town of Wangaratta.

Speaker of the House Milton Dick told parliament on Monday that politicians had a responsibility to lead by example.