What journo can ignore an irresistible media hook?

We're zooming down the Princes Highway, chasing the Hanson tour. A reporter calls, whispering: "Go ahead to Mortdale. We're leaving now, and Pauline's only spending five minutes at the fish and chips shop."

Pauline Hanson claimed to be different to other politicians. She was, in fact, the slickest sound-bite politician in the land.

Her "difference" lay purely in marketing. Hanson was projected as a cross between a pop star and a religious leader, so standard forms of protest had little effect on her popularity. I decided to attack her mythology by combining a Senate campaign with the release of my new single. I felt that if I could replicate her surface - fashion, accent and phraseology - I could then draw attention to the racist underbelly of One Nation. I wanted to do this in the broadest possible cultural arena - the pop charts, the nightly news, the Murdoch press - so that One Nation supporters would come home to find their children singing my songs. An angry Hansonite complained to me last week that this was, in fact, taking place.

The drag queen angle proved to be an irresistible media hook. I was variously described as a drag queen, transvestite, transsexual, female impersonator, political satirist, "fringe dweller" (by David Oldfield) and "disgusting little pervert" (One Nation's website).

Each campaign day, I would devour the media's Hanson news reports and recycle them from my own persona in radio and television interviews. By late September, Hanson was bitterly complaining to reporters about the amount of attention they were giving me. When she walked through Perth shopping centres, CD stores played the song full blast. As she sat in a Wagga Wagga cafe, the local radio station dedicated the song to her.

So the media took me in as the fluffy drag queen, and didn't always edit out the hard politics in my fascist analogies.

I had compiled a formidable dossier of One Nation prior to the election, the real brownshirt stuff that had lately become buried under spin-doctor Oldfield's flimsy veneer of "respectability".

When I ran up to Hanson outside the Mortdale Bowling Club, asking her "to please explain her ridiculous denials of racism to the Astrayan people", Oldfield jumped between us and demanded that I supply evidence of her "racist statements". It's his standard line of confrontation, so I had five quotes ready. After the first - "I don't want to go to the Gold Coast because there's too many Asians there" - he walkd away, muttering that I "needed a dictionary".

Later that week, I was a guest at the AFL Grand Final Breakfast in Melbourne. I was shaking hands with politicians, but when I got to John Howard, his silent minders briefly pulled my cameraman's arms back, just long enough for him to miss the shot.

Strangely, one of the greatest effects of my campaign has been its international impact. As any traveller knows, Australia "is" Pauline Hanson, just as South Africa once "was" apartheid. The international media were only here to cover her, and I became a part of that story. Over the last fortnight of the campaign, I apparently received more international coverage than Howard and Beazley combined. All the wire services carried several long reports, resulting in over 300 published articles, four BBC interviews and a lot of Asian television. It was, I was told, the first instance of opposition to Hanson to receive significant international coverage.

In the end, One Nation destroyed themselves by trying to appear " real", by, exposing their sad racist drag in debacles like their tax "policy". In the end, my little farce was no match for their farcical attempts to present thmselves as fit for government.

...Simarlarly, Mr Thompson, 37 who had worked for the former Queensland Treasurer, Mrs Joan Sheldon, believes Ms Hanson's absence from Blair and her role as One Nation's leader helped him win the seat.
 "I focused on doing something for the local people while she was doing battle with Pauline Pantsdown and running a three-ring circus with the media"...

Political satirists, like Pauline Pantsdown, have had a field day 

The One Nation party won more than 23% of the popular vote and 11 of 89 seats in the Queensland state elections in June. Nationally, opinion polls indicate around 7% support this time round. 

Whatever the result, Mrs Hanson has certainly received considerable, if unwanted, media attention during the campaign. 

Her outspoken views on immigration and aboriginal land rights have also made her a target for unusual political attacks. 

On Monday, a Brisbane court upheld a ban on the broadcast of a song by drag queen Pauline Pantsdown, called "I'm a back door man", which rearranged recorded excerpts from Mrs Hanson's speeches to depict her confessing to be gay and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. 

The court ruled against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), who wished to play the record, Judge Paul de Jersey described the song as clearly defamatory and a "mindless effort at cheap denigration". 

Ms Pantsdown has had a runaway success with a follow-up song, again using Mrs Hanson's voice, called "I don't like it". 

Michael Peschardt examines the race issue
 

[SMH - OPINION] Friday 2 October 1998
Richard Ackland
Dicision for Hanson has disturbing effect

If Pauline Hanson can't be strongly satirised, she's more menacing than we ever expected.

THE Queensland Court of Appeal made a deeply disturbing decision on Monday. Three judges, led by the Chief Justice of Queensland, Paul de Jersey, decided that a satirical song about Pauline Hanson is so defamatory that it should be banned from the air waves.

Unfortunately, the effect of this decision is wider than Queensland, because injunctions bind the conscience of the
defendant, and this defendant is the ABC - a national creature.

The court said that if a jury didn't find the song defamatory, that finding would be overturned on appeal. In these circumstances, one could only pray that the High Court would rectify such absurdity, although given some of the eccentric decisions concerning free speech coming from that body one can't be too sure.

It is one thing for conservative Queensland judges to be horrified and appalled, but to deny a bit of satire in the lives of the rest of us is a shocker.

The song is called I'm a Backdoor Man and is the work of Pauline Pantsdown, aka Simon Hunt, the satirist who is running as a Senate candidate.

Hunt is involved in various media courses and writes songs. The Backdoor Man consists of Hanson's own voice from speeches which have been digitally rearranged and set to a rock beat.

The chorus is from the sound track of the 1930s film, The Perils of Pauline. The song was played in court and these are some of the words that the three appeal judges heard:

I'm a backdoor man; I'm very proud of it
I'm a backdoor man; I'm homosexual
I'm a backdoor man - yes I am - I'm very proud of it
I'm a backdoor man; I'm homosexual. . .
I'm very proud that I'm not straight.
I'm very proud that I'm not natural
I'm a backdoor man for the Ku Klux Klan with very horrendous plans
I'm a very caring potato, We will never have the chance. . .

While Queenslanders are deprived of hearing this on the radio, anyone can read or hear it on the Internet and from countless tapes in circulation. It is a refreshing illustration of the reach of the modern media.

Pantsdown's more recent song I Don't Like It, also consisting of Hanson's words and "noises" rearranged, is not the subject of injunction and is doing well on the ABC's Triple J:

I don I like it, when you turn my voice about.
I don't like it when you vote One Nation out.
My language has been murdered, my language has been murdered.
My shopping trolley murdered, my groceries just gone.

In September last year, I'm a Backdoor Man was subject to an injunction by Justice Ambrose in Queensland on an application by Hanson against the ABC, which had been broadcasting the song on Triple J.

Ambrose heard evidence that students attending the Ipswich Boys Grammar School, where Hanson's son Adam is a boarder, played the song loudlyand teased him about it. So the judge stopped the ABC broadcasting the song, saying that if it continued to be played unabated, then damages would not be an adequate compensation for the Member for Oxley.

Thirteen months later, just before the hearing of the appeal by the ABC, Hanson filed her statement of claim in defamation. The plaintiffs lawyers pleaded that the song, given its ordinary meaning, could be taken by ordinary people to mean: that she is a pedophile, a homosexual, a prostitute, engages in unnatural sexual practices including anal sex, engages in unnatural sexual practices including anal sex with the Ku Klux Klan, she is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, is a potato - which means that she was "a receiver of anal sex".

The appeal judges, led by de Jersey CJ, refused to lift the injunction, saying that "these were grossly offensive imputations relating to the sexual orientation and preference of a federal politician".

He went on: "I consider there's no real room for debate that an ordinary listener, not avid for scandal, would find one of the imputations defamatory."

In other words, an open-and-shut case. Hanson would get damages for defamation.

With all due respect, as they say, the ABC has a strong legal argument, namely that it is a complete and utter absurdity for any ordinary person to think that the words of the song give rise to the literal meanings contended by Ms Hanson's lawyers.

To think that one would have to believe that Ms Hanson is a male homosexual who indulges in anal sex and is a pedophile. It is all too ridiculous for words.

After the Court of Appeal decision on Monday, Ms Hanson said that: "Freedom of speech does not extend [sic] by allowing people the right to defame others and tell lies."

Coming from a politician who has defamed whole races of people in an utterly crude fashion, this is pretty rich.

It should not be forgotten that Hanson endorsed a book called The Truth, in which it was claimed that Aborigines ate their children and that the "new class elites have deliberately earmarked Anglo-Saxon Australia for destruction".

Another claim in me Truth is that by 2050, Australia will have a President called Poona Li Hung, a lesbian of Indian and Chinese background. She is part machine - her neuro-circuits having been made by a joint Korean-Indian-Chinese research team.

Hanson has also claimed that Aborigines in the north of Australia were stockpiling semi-automatic weapons. "There have been exchanges of weapons for actually a carton of beer," she said.

If a politician of this stamp cannot be subject to strong satirical comment, then Hanson's damage will have been far more menacing than ever we expected.

De Australische verkiezingen van 3 oktober worden voornamelijk een strijd tussen de conservatieve Liberal-National coalitie van premier John Howard en de oppositiepartij Labour. De meeste aandacht gaat echter uit naar de racistische One Nation-partij van Pauline Hanson. Die moet het opnemen tegen een onverwachte tegenkandidaat: de travestiet Pauline Pantsdown.

Twee jaar geleden werd Pauline Hanson, voormalig frituuruitbaatster, verkozen als onafhankelijke kandidaat in het federale parlement. Haar eerste toespraak wekte meteen beroering: Australië wordt overrompeld door Aziaten, stelde ze, en aboriginals ontvangen te veel uitkeringen. Ook bureaucraten, veelverdieners, buitenlandse investeerders en de Verenigde Naties kregen ervan langs. 

Media en politiek veroordeelden haar gedachtengoed, maar haar aanhang groeide gestaag. In juni dit jaar haalde de partij die ze oprichtte, One Nation, meer dan 23 procent van de stemmen in de regionale verkiezingen in haar geboortestaat Queensland. Bij de federale verkiezingen zou One Nation volgens peilers op 7 procent van het stemmenaantal kunnen rekenen. Hoeveel weerstand Hansons One Nation-partij tegelijk oproept, mag blijken uit het bestaan van een Anti-Pauline Hanson Webring, die reeds een twintigtal sites telt. 

Hansons programmapunten blinken uit door hun simplisme. Ze wil immigratie in Australië verbieden tot alle werklozen een baan hebben. Op dit moment bedraagt de werkloosheid 8 procent. Alle Australiërs moeten gelijk behandeld worden: voor Hanson betekent dit dat extra uitkeringen aan aboriginals, die een sociale inhaalbeweging moeten bewerkstelligen, afgeschaft moeten worden. Alle "discriminaties gecreëerd door politieke correctheid" moeten opgeheven worden. Buitenlanders mogen slechts beperkt bezittingen hebben in Australië, dat verder de eigen economie moet bevorderen door het opleggen van hoge invoerrechten. 

De lichtgeraakte Pauline Hanson verdedigt haar standpunten met vuur, maar verliest in ingewikkelde discussies al vlug de pedalen. Als een interviewer van een tv-programma haar vraagt "Hebt u daar wel goed over nagedacht?", antwoordt ze nee en ratelt ze onverstoord verder, zoals op deze site te beluisteren valt. 

Niemand onderschat de kansen van Pauline Hanson. Door het Australische verkiezingssysteem kan One Nation wel eens op de wip belanden tussen twee even sterke politieke blokken. Dat zou Hanson een de facto veto geven over elke federale beslissing, wat haar een ongeziene macht zou verlenen. Pauline Pantsdown, die zich ook kandidaat stelt bij de senaatsverkiezingen, heeft inmiddels een nieuwe singel klaar, opnieuw met Hansons stem: 'I don't like it', een van Hansons favoriete uitspraken. 

Another person that would make one hell of a Spice Girl is Pauline Pantsdown. Even if you know as little about Aussie politics as I do you will appreciate the musical genius that went into I'm A Back Door Man, (.wav format 2MB), which was banned from Australian radio for some reason. They could call her Back Door Spice

[SSO NEWS] Thursday 1 October 1998
Court dumps on Back Door Man
BRENDAN BOLGER

Pauline Pantsdown ... 
'Queensland decision
means satirists have no
rights'.

"Homosexuality has been deemed by a court to be something bad, " senate candidate Pauline Pantsdown said this week about the Supreme Court decision to uphold an injunction preventing the ABC broadcasting her debut single.

I'm A Back Door Man was removed from the airwaves last year after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson obtained an injunction from the Qld Supreme Court.

This week an appeal was heard by the court seeking the injunction's removal. The appeal was rejected.

Court president Paul de Jersey said the song was a "mindless attempt at cheap denigration", the Australian reported.

Lyrics in the song have Pauline Hanson declaring she's a caring potato, a homosexual, and very proud.

The decision is a blow to freedom of speech in Australia, Pantsdown said.

" [The decision] means hat satirists have no rights. It means that certain politicians have more rights than other people when it comes to court action. "

The debut track is only banned from being broad cast by the ABC. Pantsdown performed I'm A Back Door Man yesterday in Sydney's Martin Place. Her second single, I Don't Like It, was released last month.

Ms Hanson's lawyer, David Rofe QC . . . said the song implied [she] was a homosexual, prostitute, transvestite and involved with the Ku Klux Klan, and many Triple J listeners would know potato was slang for a 'reciever of anal sex'

- Certianly gives new meaning to the term 'hot potato'. The Australian reports on the Queensland Court of Appeal's upholding of an injunction banning Triple J from plying Pauline Pantsdown's I'm a Backdoor Man.

[GREEN LEFT WEEKLY] Wednesday 30 September 1998
Pantsdown: political protest through satire

By James Smith 

“On October 3, Pauline Hanson will be out of office. After that I'm more than happy to fade into obscurity, returning in 10 years time to tour the RSL club circuit, doing my Hits of the '90s show.” Pauline Pantsdown is running as a Senate candidate in NSW at the October 3 federal election.

Pantsdown describes herself as political protest through satire: “My entertainment value draws people in, encouraging them to listen to the political message that's behind my performance. 

“Pauline Hanson is an artificial figure too. She fronts an evil that has always existed in Australian society but until now was not easily digestible. 

“By dressing like her, using her words and being badly made-up, I'm exposing her as an artificial character, and letting people see the real evil behind her.” 

The Pauline Pantsdown character is based on the comments made by Hanson. “She is racist. With all of David Oldfield's spin doctoring, there is a careful false history going around that she has never said anything racist. 

“This is despite comments such as, `Asians form ghettos and do not assimilate' and `I don't want to go to the Gold Coast because there are too many Asians there'.” 

On September 24, Pantsdown and Hanson met face to face at the Mortdale Bowling club in Sydney. “She asked me to provide an example of a racist comment she had made. I proceeded to read over a page of them to her. She
quickly scurried past without a word and the best that Oldfield could do was comment on my make-up.” 

Pantsdown added that One Nation's immigration policy was particularly racist. “It claims to be non-discriminitory, so long as immigration doesn't change the cultural balance of Australia. 

“This means Asian immigration can't rise any higher than it already is. Essentially, this would mean about 5% Asian immigration and 85% Caucasian immigration. One Nation's ambiguity on immigration could also mean maintaining a cultural make-up that existed back in 1950s.” 

Pantsdown said of the high school walkouts organised by Resistance: “I think it's wonderful that young people are in the streets protesting. My question is why isn't everyone else doing it? 

“They are the generation that cannot imagine anything other than a multicultural society. They know what this world is about. They don't have a yearning for an artificial white Australia that never really existed. The media responded by saying these young people were manipulated. I find that quite extraordinary.” 

Pantsdown explained that Howard's strategy over the past 18 months was to ignore her “and look at the results of the Queensland elections. It's a stupid strategy.” 

The response to Pauline Pantsdown's latest single, “I Don't Like It”, has been extraordinary. It has made it into the national top 20. One Nation have tried everything to have it banned. 

Despite rumours, a lawsuit was never filed against Pantsdown's first single,“I'm a Backdoor Man”. “They took the song as literal and said I was calling her a homosexual. I'm actually calling her a racist and they know they can't
defend the idea that she is a racist in a court of law.” 

One Nation won a temporary court injunction to keep it off air until it could file a suit, but that never happened. An appeal takes place in the Brisbane Supreme Court on September 28 which could allow “I'm a Backdoor Man” to be released again. 

The media's initial response to “I Don't Like It” was nervous. While Triple J played the song immediately, commercial radio felt it was too risky. ABC-TV's Recovery won't play it because “it's too early in the morning for young minds to be exposed to a particular brand of politics”. 

Channel 10s Video Hits refused to play it on the grounds it was shot on video, not film, but was obliged to once it reached the national top 20. The commercial stations are now playing it too. 

Pantsdown explained that a vote for her would not be wasted. “I'm urging all my voters to direct their second preferences to anti-Hanson candidates. It's vital we keep David Oldfield out of the Senate.” 

School students blocked central Sydney streets today in protest against One Nation, uranium mining at Jabiluka and the federal government's native title legislation.

Organiser Marina Carman, from socialist group Resistance, said the rally was a chance for young people who could not vote in Saturday's federal election to have their say.

``Some of them can't vote in the federal election so we think it's very important that young people have a chance to have their voice heard,'' Ms Carman said.

Ms Carman, also a NSW Senate candidate for the Democratic Socialist party, said young people felt deserted by the policies of Labor and the coalition.

``If you look at the policies of the two major parties on issues like race and youth unemployment, a lot of young people are extremely dissatisfied,'' she said.

The rally of about 100 students marched from Sydney's Town Hall to Martin Place, where they were addressed by NSW Senate candidate and satirical transvestite Pauline Pantsdown.

Ms Pantsdown applauded the students, some barely in their teens, for taking a political stand.

``When people say that you, the protesters, are being manipulated and brainwashed by other forces, they've just got it wrong. The whole thing is wrong, and it stinks, and I don't like it,'' she said.

One Nation has condemned Resistance for organising previous student protests, labelling them manipulators and communists.

``The question is not why young people are on the streets protesting against Pauline Hanson and the shadowy fringe dwellers who lurk behind her like stains on a cheap and nasty suit,'' Ms Pantsdown said.

``The question is why are their parents sitting at home, sitting on their fat Ipswich arses?''

Ms Pantsdown also lip-synched her two songs, I Don't Like It and I'm a Backdoor Man, which use edited clips of Pauline Hanson's voice to create very un-Hansonesque statements.

The Queensland Court of Appeal yesterday upheld an airplay ban on the song I'm a Backdoor Man, in which Ms Hanson is characterised as a homosexual, prostitute, transvestite and member of the Ku Klux Klan.

But her alter-ego was not perturbed, threatening future creative attacks on One Nation.

``Those of you who can vote, make sure you put Pauline Hanson's adviser David Oldfield last in the NSW Senate election or I'll have to spend another 500 hours re-editing his boring voice,'' she said.

[The Sydney Morning Herald] Tuesday 29 September 1998 
Court shirtfronts back door man

By  Margo

The ABC may face paying Ms Pauline Hanson a hefty defamation settlement after the Queensland Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed its appeal against an injunction stopping Triple J radio from broadcasting the Pauline Pantsdown song I'm a Back Door Man.

In a day of high farce, Ms Hanson's media adviser, Mr David Oldfield, told the media to await her arrival at the front door of the Supreme Court but Ms Hanson entered from the back.

There was no need for Ms Hanson to attend the hearing, and she had roundly berated the media in speeches last week for focusing on Pantsdown during her Sydney visit on Thursday.

But with Mr Oldfield searching for good battler publicity in the campaign's final week she came to court and appeared to weep when the song was played during the hearing.

Justice Margaret McMurdo permitted herself a brief smile during the song.

The song was removed from Triple J's play list in August last year, after Ms Hanson sued for defamation and won an injunction pending trial. It satirises Ms Hanson's views on race by a cut and paste of her speeches, to say she is a raging homosexual, intolerant of straights. Mr David Rofe, QC, for Ms Hanson, said that in the song "she's not just saying "I am a homosexual', she's saying "I'm proud of it'".

He said the song imputed that Ms Hanson was "homosexual and rejoicing in that fact, a prostitute, (and engaged in) unnatural sex practices (with) some sort of involvement in pedophilia".

He said Triple J's young audience would be more likely than "a more mature person" to understand that the lyrics meant "that you are a receiver of anal sex".

Mr Bob Mulholland, QC, for the ABC, said that "the ordinary reasonable person could come very quickly to the conclusion that (the song's words) do not represent the attitude of (Ms Hanson)". He said the song was clearly a satire, and not to be taken seriously.

But Mr Rofe agreed with Justice Bruce McPherson's suggestion that the ABC's argument meant Ms Hanson could be ridiculed because she's "beneath the contempt of any reasonable person".

"That's not the message this court should give to the people of Australia," Mr Rofe said.

After a short adjournment the Court of Appeal president, Justice Paul de Jersey, dismissed the appeal, saying the song was "patently defamatory".

"These were grossly offensive imputations (and) a mindless effort of cheap denigration," he said.

The song "was plainly defamatory for exposing (Ms Hanson) to ridicule and contempt". 

Ms Hanson nodded at this and sat back in her seat relieved.

The judgment means that unless the ABC appeals to the High Court, the ABC might have to consider settling before trial. If it does, Ms Hanson could receive a substantial damages payout.

In a brief statement outside the court before going back inside and again leaving by the back door, Ms Hanson said: "I'm so delighted to see the appeal was rejected.

"I was just so upset by it (the playing of the song).

"I'm just so pleased - what the meaning is is that freedom of speech does not extend by allowing people the right to defame others and to tell lies."

Pauline Pantsdown rushed to Brisbane from Sydney yesterday morning, after learning of Ms Hanson's planned appearance in court. She did her own make-up on the plane, but arrived two minutes after Ms Hanson's departure.

Pantsdown said: "What this (decision) does for the rights of satirists in this country is quite unimaginable.

"My piece is based on the strategy of the late Weimar satirists in the way they tried to satirise Adolf Hitler - (he) was too difficult to satirise in terms of race and nationalism because his own statements were too extreme in that area already, so they would satirise his method of argument and his use of the German language."

Asked if she regretted Ms Hanson's distress, Pantsdown said: "I regret that Mrs Hanson has caused a rising tide of violence against Asian people in this country, I regret that Mrs Hanson has caused unimaginable pain to Aboriginal people who were so close to finding some sense of justice in this country. My song is trivial."

[THE AUSTRALIAN] 29 September 1998
Court pulls Pantsdown send-up off air
By LEISA SCOTT and CHRISTOPHER NIESCHE

PAULINE Hanson sat in a court room she had no need to be in during an election fight she is in real fear of losing and cried yesterday. 

Were they real tears of someone under enormous strain or were they a calculated attempt to inject sympathy into an amateur campaign that has very little left to offer? 

The only "event" the media was invited to yesterday was Ms Hanson's visit to Queensland's Court of Appeal in which she could play no active role, simply sit and listen to lawyers discuss the merits – or lack thereof – of a song titled I'm a Backdoor Man. 

The song was played to the grand Banco Court, filling the august chamber with Ms Hanson's distinct voice and words mutated into lyrics such as "I'm very proud that I'm not straight" and "I'm a backdoor man for the Ku Klux Klan with a very horrendous plan". 

As the piece played, Ms Hanson held her head in her hands then wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. 

But the verdict came down in her favour. The court rejected the ABC's appeal against an injunction banning Triple J radio from playing the song, with court president Paul de Jersey saying it was clearly defamatory and a "mindless attempt at cheap denigration". 

Justice Bruce McPherson asked Ms Hanson's lawyer, David Rofe QC, whether Triple J had taken the view that her "reputation was so beneath contempt that you can broadcast this". 

Mr Rofe said the song implied Ms Hanson was a homosexual, prostitute, transvestite and involved with the Ku Klux Klan, and many Triple J listeners would know potato was slang for "a receiver of anal sex". 

One part – "You must come out and be one of us / As long as the children come across I'm a happy person" – inferred Ms Hanson was involved in paedophilia, he said. 

However, Bob Mulholland QC, for the ABC, said the song was satirical and the words were not to be taken literally. 

"No reasonable listener, in our submission, could believe the words actually represented (Ms Hanson's) views," he said. 

But Justice de Jersey said "a broadcaster cannot convert the grossly defamatory into acceptable material by pleading it 'should not be taken seriously'." 

When the verdict came down, Ms Hanson smiled broadly at her Queensland director, Peter James, before going outside to give a brief but emotional press conference. 

Not so media-shy was the song's creator, Pauline Pantsdown, who flew to Brisbane when he heard his anti-hero planned to be in court. 

Told that Ms Hanson appeared upset, Pantsdown said: "If people are hurt by satire, they should get out of the political game and leave it to people who can actually justify their actions and their words and their policies." 

Given the way Ms Hanson's campaign is limping towards the finish line, his suggestion may soon be realised. 

ABC radio network Triple J wasfighting an injunction preventing itbroadcasting the song "I'm a BackdoorMan" by drag queen Pauline Pantsdown.

The song rearranges statements byMs Hanson to deliver lyrics such as:"I'm a homosexual" and "I'm a caringpotato".

The ABC argued the song was a joke,but as it was played yesterday MsHanson held her hand over her faceand wiped away tears.

Ms Hanson's barrister David RofeQC said the entire song was "a scurrilous, smutty little piece", which implied his client was a prostitute, involved in the Ku Klux Klan and anal intercourse, was a man or transvestite and accused her of criminal acts with children.

"This is a court setting the community standards for this State," he said.

Mr Rofe said if the court gave thegreen light and lifted the injunction thesong would be splashed all over theairwaves mercilessly until Saturday'sfederal election.

Chief Justice of the Supreme CourtPaul de Jersey upheld the injunctionsaying the song was a "mindless effortat cheap denigration".

"I consider there's no real room fordebate that an ordinary listener, notavid for scandal, would find one of theimputations defamatory," he said.

The Chief Justice found it was "facile" to suggest the ABC could avoid defamation by prefacing the playing of the song with a disclaimer that it was satirical and not to be taken seriously.

Outside the court, a still shaken MsHanson said: "I was very upset by it . . . I'm just so pleased."What the message is that, freedomof speech, does not extend, by allowingpeople the right to defame others and totell lies."

Lawyers for the ABC argued the songshould be taken in jest and that noreasonable person could believe thelyrics were Ms Hanson's views.

Minutes after Ms Hanson left thecourt, the song's author, arts lecturerSimon Hunt dressed as his alter egoPauline Pantsdown arrived from Sydney in a short pleated skirt, red jacket and heavy make-up.

"It is a satire, if people are hurt by satire then they should get out of the political game and leave it to the people who can actually justify their actions and their words and their policies," he/she said.

Pauline Pantsdown has also produced the song "I don't like it" based on the One Nation leader which has sold 16,000 copies in the past three weeks.

A spokesman for Triple J said lastnight it was "licking its wounds".

[ABC] Monday 28 September 1998
Pauline Pants-Down criticises Supreme Court ruling

Political satirist Pauline Pants-Down has criticised today's Supreme Court decision which maintains an
injunction preventing the playing of his song I'm a Back Door Man.

The song, which contains the edited words of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, is the subject of a defamation action against the ABC and had an injunction placed on it to prevent radio station Triple-J from playing it.

Today the ABC unsuccessfully appealed against the injunction with Queensland Chief Justice Paul De Jersey descibing the song as "cheap denegration".

According to Pauline Pants-Down the decision on his song is a blow to free speech.

"It is a satire, if people are hurt by satire then they should get out of the political game and leave it to the people who can actually justify their actions and their words and their policies," he said.

Commentary by Scott Balls On, Global Web Builders (Mouth of One Nation)

Pauline Hanson, more than anyone, has been the focus of politically correct attacks. 

On one hand she is labelled a racist for expressing what a large number of Australians feels while on the other the politically correct hide behind the guise of "satire and freedom of expression" while being supported by the mainstream media as they openly defame, tag and ridicule those in their sights. 

On this day Pauline Hanson had taken the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) Triple J "youth radio station" and a disgusting little misfit by the name of "Pauline Pantsdown" (PP) to the Supreme Court to have her challenge of defamation against PP's song which suggested, by cutting and pasting her voice, that Mrs Hanson is amongst other things as a homo-sexual, a paedophile, a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and a "very caring potato". 

It was on this day, just five days before the Federal Election, that Mrs Hanson openly wept in the Supreme Court as the song by PP "I'm a Backdoor Man" was played to three of Queensland's most senior judges in the Court of Appeal. 

Chief Justice Paul de Jersey upheld Mrs Hanson's complaint calling the song a "mindless effort at cheap denigration". 

Outside the court Pauline Hanson said "I am delighted that the ABC's appeal has been rejected. I was very upset by it. What the message is that freedom of speech does not extend to allowing people the right to defame others and tell lies." 

The objective, cold, straight-down-the-line reporting by the mainstream media on what is a gross blackening of Pauline Hanson stand is bleak contrast to the colourful language used by reporters to describe her as a racist , uneducated or bigoted when reporting on things she does not say and adding journalistic twists spun to support these claims. 

Just hours after her distress Pauline Hanson was to speak at a function to which I had been invited. Unlike the very public court case this was a closed event for the One Nation faithful. 

The mainstream media did not report that Pauline Hanson was so upset by the events of that morning that she broke down and cried at a Business Luncheon of One Nation supporters at Petrie that afternoon. 

They would not have cared. The One Nation members who attended did and were devastated to see Pauline Hanson, the focus of the divisive bile of the politically correct, in tears. This was not the hardened politician portrayed by the media this was the true face of Pauline Hanson a caring and very vulnerable Australian mother. 

That night Pauline Hanson was to attend another function a fundraising dinner in Petrie - for her it would be a very personal test after the events of the day before. 

The coverage below records what happened that night and reveal how this brave woman has spun a thread of light into a world where the forces of politically correct darkness have gathered over this land we call Australia. 

After a casual buffet type hot meal Stephen Evelyn (right) President of the Pine Rivers branch introduced himself and welcomed Pauline Hanson and the guests. 

He was followed by Dickson candidate Bruce Camfield who spoke about the One Nation philosophy of putting our nation ahead of the multinationals. 

Bruce spoke about the manner in which Packer and Murdoch worked in the background - aiming at influencing the outcome of the elections based on deals being done in the backrooms - out of sight of mainstream Australians. 

Camfield, left, talked about One Nation's success at Bribie Island where more than 50% of the Liberal Party's 54 strong membership had left to join One Nation - just 4 people remaining in the branch; how the National Party and Labor Party branches had closed on the island - with the entire National party branch joining One Nation. 

He spoke of this being Australia's last chance, our only chance as the mainstream parties would move to change the rules again to shore up their position. 

During the evening a singer played and sung. 

Following Camfield's speech was the first public playing of a pro-Pauline Hanson song - although the recording was of fairly poor quality the theme was well understood. 

Pauline Hanson received a standing ovation when she got up to speak. Although visibly tired she seemed to have fully recovered from the pressure of the court case against the ABC. 

One of the most unreported aspects of Pauline Hanson's speech is how she goes out of her way to thank people. She started off by thanking the chef  "as one chef to another" for a great meal. 

She spoke about One nation now having 320 branches nationwide. 

She spoke of her support. 

"The media would not tell you this," she said. "I believe that we are facing a media blackout. They refuse to report on our policies - leaving people to ask 'What are One Nation's policies?'. 

"As I have moved around the country the support has been tremendous. We received over 400 guests in John Howard's seat of Bennelong. The media however are trying to push the line that there is little or no support for One Nation. But the major parties know better - they are begging for One Nation preferences. 

"When Malcolm Fraser suggested that the two major parties join together to get rid of One Nation he was so close to the mark - with their exchanging preferences. He was so close because their policies on issues like globalisation are the same. 

"Sometimes when I put my head on the pillow as I go to sleep at night I ask 'Why me?' In the past two and a half years I have been swept along in this movement. I realise now that there is no safe political seat in Australia - not even John Howard's or Kim Beazley's. 

"For too long Australian's have been apathetic about voting and have said 'What's the use?' - They're all tarred with the same brush. 

"But we are not". 

There was a round of applause and clapping at this stage. 

"When I make decisions I make them in the best interests of all Australians - it doesn't matter if you are an Aboriginal or an immigrant. We are all the same. 

"It didn't surprise me that, just before the parliament broke up, the major parties spent valuable time turning their attack on me and denigrating my party. One wonders why they cannot be bi-partisan over real issues like unemployment in this country. After their tirade against me, I got up and said, 'I tell you something I will be back'. Their jeers filled the floor of the house as they said 'no you won't'. 

"But next time I walk in with my MPs I will say, 'I'm back'. 

"God I wish it was Sunday October 4th. 

" I won the court case against Pauline Pantsdown and the ABC today." 

More thunderous applause. 

"October the 3rd will be the biggest day in Australian political history. Remember this - the only way you will have good government is by having good opposition - something we have not had for some time. The true opposition through One Nation's influence is not Pauline Hanson - it never was - it is you and your support - this is where the true opposition against them is. 

"Let me tell you the fight to regain Australia has just begun."

Pauline Hanson sat down to thunderous applause after receiving a bunch of flowers.. 

Among the guests were a number of men wearing one of the Australian symbols - the Australian flag ties. These, amongst other items of interest were signed by Pauline Hanson. 

 And this was just another day in the amazing political career of Australia's Evita. 

[AAP] Monday 28 September 1998  
Distressed Hanson weeps then wins in court over song

A distressed Pauline Hanson wept openly as a song characterising her as a homosexual, prostitute, transvestite, and member of the Ku Klux Klan, was played to Queensland's most senior judges here today.

The song, I'm A Back Door Man, produced and sung by the satirist drag queen Pauline Pantsdown, remained banned today after the ABC lost the last legal challenge available to it in Queensland courts.

The song, using Hanson's own voice, was taken off the national airwaves last September after the One Nation leader successfully sought a Supreme Court injunction preventing youth oriented ABC radio network JJJ from continuing its airplay.

The ABC today, represented by Queensland barrister Bob Mulholland QC, attempted to have the injunction lifted by the Queensland Court of Appeal on the basis the song was merely a piece of "satirical nonsense", made "injest", not to be taken literally and therefore not defamatory.

As part of the hearing the song lyrics, involving a "cut and paste" of Hanson's voice in media interviews, were played to Chief Justice Paul de Jersey, President Margaret McMurdo, and Justice Bruce McPherson.

Hanson sat at the rear of the court next to One Nation state director Peter James, and began weeping as she heard her voice say: "I'm homosexual, I'm very proud of it".

The song's lyrics went on:

"I'm not straight, I'm not human.

"I'm a backdoor man for the Ku Klux Klan, with a very horrendous plan.

"You must come out and be one of us.

"As long as children come across, I'm a happy person."

Sydney barrister David Rofe QC, for Hanson, said the entire song was "a scurrilous, smutty little piece", which implied the One Nation leader was a prostitute, involved in the Ku Klux Klan and anal intercourse, was a man or
transvestite and accused her of criminal acts with children.

"This is a court setting the community standards for this state," he said.

"We have a parliamentarian, a controversial politician, who indeed at this moment is, as we all know -- as are all politicians, facing an election."

Rofe said if the court gave the green light and lifted the injunction the song would be splashed all over the airwaves mercilessly until Saturday's federal election.

Announcing the court's decision after a brief adjournment, Chief Justice De Jersey found the song was clearly defamatory and a "mindless effort at cheap denigration".

"These were grossly offensive imputations relating to the sexual orientation and preference of a federal politician," Chief Justice De Jersey said in handing down the court's decision shortly after this morning's hearing.

"They (the imputations) are plainly defamatory for exposing the respondent to ridicule and contempt.

"I consider there's no real room for debate that an ordinary listener, not avid for scandal, would find one of the imputations defamatory.

"If a jury were to find the opposite then this court would overturn the decision on appeal."

The Chief Justice found it was "facile" to suggest the ABC could avoid defamation by prefacing the playing of the song with a disclaimer that it was satirical and not to be taken seriously.

Leaving court today, Hanson briefly told journalists she had been distressed by the song and welcomed the Court of Appeal decision.

"I was very upset by it," she said.

"What the court's message is, is that freedom of speech does not extend (sic) by allowing people the right to defame others and tell lies."

Pauline Pantsdown, formerly Sydney academic Simon Hunt, had changed her name by deep poll to contest a New South Wales senate seat on an anti-Hanson ticket.

Today she appeared at court dressed in a short pleated skirt, red jacket and heavy make-up, having flown in from Sydney especially for the decision.

She said she had no sympathy for the distress the song apparently caused the controversial politician.

"If people are hurt by satire, they should get out of the political game."

She told journalists her role was as a satirist, performing the same role as German satirists did against Adolf Hitler.

"Rather than take her (Ms Hanson's) own already extreme views on race, I took a few of her statements on homosexuality and used the same method of argument that she had used to satirise her views.

"I have turned those views around and satirised them. For the court to make a decision in this way; it's just wrong.

"My actions, my songs were trivial; it was a joke."

Pantsdown has had success with a second Pauline Hanson spoof, entitled I Don't Like It, which again uses the politician's own voice.

The new rap-style song sold 16,000 units in three weeks.