Pauline Hanson slams ‘Sheriff of Nottingham budget’ in first outing with Farrer MP

Pauline Hanson has slammed Labor’s “Sheriff of Nottingham budget” and accused Australians of not wanting to “work hard, save some money”.

The One Nation leader, who was recently gifted a plane by Gina Rinehart, appeared alongside newly elected Farrer MP David Farley – the party’s second lower house MP – in Canberra for the first time on Wednesday.

It comes as Treasurer Jim Chalmers hits the ground running in defence of Labor’s negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms, announced as part of the 2026-27 federal budget on Tuesday after months of speculation.

Addressing the media, Senator Hanson mocked the government’s budget platform of “intergenerational policy”.

“This budget, to me, is basically taking the wealth from people who worked hard, and I’m talking people my age. We were the baby boomers,” she said.

“We didn’t have a lot … we had second-hand furniture, second-hand clothes. We had to go without. We didn’t go to restaurants and we didn’t have all this.

“Then, we saved and we invested into wealth.

“All the government is doing now is stripping that wealth and handing it to others.

“This is a Sheriff of Nottingham budget.”

Senator Hanson claimed “we are not incentivising people to want to get ahead in this country”.

“To go and work hard, save some money,” she said.

Asked whether she would help young people get into the housing market or should they just make sacrifices, Senator Hanson said “the young ones are being helped out very much by their parents to actually help them over that line”.

“A lot of the young ones aren’t getting married, they’re not having children … mass migration has driven up cost of housing,” she said.

“Foreign investment has driven up cost of housing.”

Senator Hanson noted former prime minister treasurer Paul Keating “attempted” negative gearing and “it didn’t increase housing”.

“He realised that it actually destroyed the market,” she said.

“This is going to have a huge impact on people in this country.

“I see this has nothing but communism taking over and redistributing wealth. “

In Canberra for the first time since his election upset, Mr Farley said water would be a priority and there was “one gem” in the budget for Farrer: health.

“Farrer is important to Australia. It’s important to everyone’s wellbeing,” Mr Farley said.

”There’s $25bn in health and for hospitals right across Farrer.

“The price of a safe seat is the neglect of a safe seat, and right across Farrer … health investment has been well underinvested.”

Rebuffing interjections from Senator Hanson, Mr Farley said, when asked about Labor’s trust reforms, they were “about succession planning”.

“I’m sure the people who’ve established their trust, and if we want to keep succession and we want to keep the skills in agriculture … But yeah, they won’t be taxed under this model,” he said.

Volunteer clash ‘in the past’

Mr Farley and Senator Hanson faced heated questioning over a One Nation volunteer who clashed with Liberal senator James Paterson and reportedly shared posts defending cop killer Dezi Freeman.

“Sorry, that is not going to be commented on here,” Senator Hanson said.

“That’s in the past. He was a volunteer, and he’s moved on.”

Senator Hanson said she had not seen the reporting and was not aware of the allegations, which included thuggish behaviour and racial slurs.

“I do not like bullying of any type and I do not like violence of any type,” Senator Hanson said.

Asked whether she was disappointed in the company that was kept, Senator Hanson shot back: “What do you mean company that was kept?

“No, I’m not disappointed at all. He was invited there. He was a volunteer.

“It was a night of celebration for the election of David Farley at that function, and I’m not going to back step on that.”

Senator Hanson claimed the media “might tell me something, you put a spin on it, it's not the truth” after she was told the reports had been sent to her office.

She did, however, acknowledge there was an altercation with Senator Paterson.

Later, senator Malcolm Roberts faced similar questioning over an interview on a YouTube channel in which he reportedly said while he doubted the Bondi Beach terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 14 innocent people was a false flag attack, he did not “have the facts yet” and would not rule it out.

“First of all, it’s an absurd proposition,” Mr Roberts said.

“The second thing is that I reinforce the fact that I make decisions and statements based on data, and I don’t have data on that.”

Senator Roberts claimed the interviewer was “naive and very young” and he was “just being gentle with her”.

Pressed on whether he would say it was not a false flag, Senator Roberts shot back: “That’s an absurd proposition that it’s a false flag.”

Senator Hanson also defended her One Nation colleague, claiming the comments were “totally taken out of contact”.

“We have shown our support for the Jewish community for what has happened in this country,” she said, adding “of course it's not” a false flag attack.