Hanson unrepentant over Robinson sit-down in first visit to Secret Harbour

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has told a crowd of supporters “I’ll decide who I talk to” after being asked about her controversial sit-down with UK far-right figure Tommy Robinson.

Hanson was speaking to a throng of One Nation backers in Secret Harbour as part of her first visit to the southern Perth electorate since Luke Herdegen stormed home to take the seat from Labor in a byelection triggered by the resignation of former WA minister Paul Papalia.

More than 100 people turned out to the event for the chance to meet Hanson, and the crowd erupted when she arrived to meet Herdegen.

Hanson addressed the crowd, and told them she was not planning to step back from politics any time soon.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere as long as I’ve still got my mental ability, and I don’t become like a Joe Biden,” she said.

Hanson also answered questions from the crowd about her previous meeting with infamous British far-right figure Tommy Robinson, following a question from a crowd member.

“What’s your thoughts on Tommy Robinson, bless him,” asked the woman, who hailed from the UK town of Luton, where immigration policy has become a heated point of debate.

“It was really interesting talking to Tommy, and he spoke common sense to me,” Hanson replied.

“I get a number of people saying, ‘I should meet this one, talk to that one’.

“I’ll decide who I talk to. The media won’t tell me who I will talk to.

“Tommy’s experiences in life is exactly what I’ve been trying to say here in Australia.

“The changes that they’re making: don’t bury it, don’t hide it, talk about it, debate it, so that we don’t become like Luton.

“And that’s what we’ll fight for.”

Another person commented, “ABC just got their soundbite, by the way,” to a roar of laughter from the crowd.

Hanson sat down for an amicable chat with Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – during a visit to Luton earlier this year.

Robinson is a convicted criminal avoided even by the UK’s most outspoken right-wing figures such as Nigel Farage, and whose appearance on Karl Stefanovic’s eponymous podcast was the catalyst for Nine axing the Today show host’s lucrative contract.

Hanson later defended her appearance on the podcast, telling Seven’s Spotlight program: “Why wouldn’t I talk to the man?”

“That’s the first time I’ve met Tommy Robinson, and I don’t regret meeting with him,” she said.

Robinson has built a large online following campaigning against Islam and immigration while repeatedly attracting condemnation for inflammatory rhetoric and a long history of legal troubles.

A former member of the fascist British National Party, Robinson co-founded the English Defence League, an anti-Islam movement that organised street demonstrations across Britain.

He has convictions for assault, mortgage fraud, using a false passport and contempt of court, when he was jailed in October 2024 after he ignored a court order not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee, who had successfully sued him for libel.

Earlier this week, Robinson was convicted of harassing two Daily Mail journalists in response to articles in 2024 that showed him on holiday in Cyprus while riots took hold in the UK in the wake of the murders of three young girls in Southport.