Arabic version: هانسون تقول إن رحلتها الأوروبية لم تُكلّف دافعي الضرائب

According to ABC News, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says her recent European travel did not cost taxpayers “one cent”, but she has not identified who funded the trip. Hanson made her first public comments after returning to Australia while speaking at a Perth leadership breakfast hosted by The West Australian newspaper.

Hanson spent more than a week overseas, speaking at two conservative conferences in the United Kingdom and attending a fashion show in Italy with mining magnate Gina Rinehart. The pair were also seen poolside at a luxury hotel in Sicily. Asked about Rinehart’s influence, Hanson described her as a “very proud, patriotic Australian” who backs One Nation because she sees the same thing in the party.

The trip also included an appearance on the Tommy Robinson Show, hosted by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Hanson said she would not apologise for the travel or for anti-immigration comments made overseas. She said she was not advocating for a return of the White Australia Policy, while maintaining that immigration should end from “certain countries that wear the burqa” and from “radical Islamic countries”.

If a third party paid for the trip, Hanson has 28 days to list the payment on her register of interests. One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said he had not asked Hanson who paid, adding that any third-party payment would appear in her declaration. Seven said it paid only for a hotel room where it filmed an interview for its Spotlight program, despite an earlier pitch email offering to pay for flights.

Hanson also praised US President Donald Trump’s approach to mass deportation, saying she wanted to target people in Australia illegally. Department of Home Affairs figures released in June showed that a third of overstayers were from China, Malaysia and the United States.