Labor condemns One Nation cartoons depicting Penny Wong being murdered as Hanson says videos ‘not going anywhere’

Labor has accused Pauline Hanson of stoking division and violence in cartoons showing attacks on the foreign minister, Penny Wong, as One Nation defends its social media content, admitting it might not always be “in good taste”.

As parliament grapples with the safety of politicians in the wake of an alleged attack against Indi MP Helen Haines last week, cartoons produced by Hanson have come under increased scrutiny.

A 2022 episode of Hanson’s Please Explain series shows Wong being killed by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. She is depicted slumped face-down over a desk, covered in blood and with a knife protruding from her back.

Scenes in Hanson’s Super Progressive Movie, released in February, show Wong being beheaded by Albanese, who believes he is killing Hanson with an axe. After Wong’s dismembered head drops to the floor, the One Nation leader quickly reveals herself to be hiding nearby.

On Sunday, the Australian federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett, urged politicians to use respectful and cautious language, drawing a direct link between overheated political rhetoric including the Hanson cartoons and the rise in violent threats against politicians in Australia.

Wong was scathing of Hanson’s conduct.

“It tells you everything about One Nation that they are happy to keep depicting this kind of violence,” she told Guardian Australia.

“Australians deserve elected representatives who are working to improve their lives, instead of promoting division, violence and personal attacks.”

A spokesperson for Hanson provided comments she made over the weekend, when she alleged Labor and Liberal “dirt units” were already back at work after the Haines attack.

“The Please Explain cartoons have nothing to do with the tragic attack on Helen Haines. They will not be going anywhere. Liberal and Labor politicians want our cartoons censored because they don’t like the scrutiny,” Hanson said.

On Monday, the creator of the cartoons, Mark Nicholson, refused to apologise for another episode making light of Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie’s health conditions.

That episode featured a depiction of Lambie saying: “I can’t laugh because of my prolapsed vagina”.

Hanson later apologised for the cartoon.

But Nicholson, who is also a candidate for One Nation at the upcoming Victorian state election, told the ABC he wanted to pick on people with public profiles.

“People who are powerful need to get a reality check,” he said.

“If you’re in the public realm, you open yourself up to praise, but you also open yourself up to parody. That’s the price you pay.”

One Nation’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, defended the cartoons on Tuesday, even as he agreed with calls to lower the temperature in Australia’s political discourse.

He said the Please Explain cartoons “absolutely” had not contributed to a deterioration, likening them to Looney Tunes characters Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

“Cartoons are an expression of freedom of speech,” he said.

“Now they’re not always going to be in good taste. They’re not always going to be defensible. But we used to be able to laugh at ourselves, and we use comedy as a medium to engage in broader dialogue within the political sphere on issues that otherwise a lot of people aren’t talking about, and realistically should be.”

Pickering said the Lambie cartoon “raises dialogue on broader issues”.

“I’d say those that do have a problem with a lot of the cartoons … make your own cartoon from the other side of politics. We know Labor’s a joke, but let’s see if they can do comedy.”