One Nation Won't Pull Cartoons Showing Wong Killed
Pauline Hanson refused to remove videos depicting Penny Wong's death as Labor linked the content to rising political tensions.
By Carmen Wojcik ·
Labor has accused Pauline Hanson of inflaming political tensions with animated scenes of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong being killed, while One Nation says the content will remain online. The party argues that debating political ideas requires the freedom to use satire, even when the humor is sharp.
One cartoon, from a 2022 episode of Hanson's Please Explain series, shows Wong face-down on a desk, covered in blood, with a knife in her back. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is the killer in the scene. A second cartoon, from the Super Progressive Movie released in February, shows Wong beheaded with an axe by Albanese, who believes he is striking Hanson. Wong's head drops to the floor before Hanson reveals herself hiding nearby.
The cartoons have drawn scrutiny following an alleged attack against Indi MP Helen Haines last week. On Sunday, Australian federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett urged politicians to use careful language. She drew a direct connection between heated rhetoric, including Hanson's cartoons, and violent threats against politicians in Australia.
Wong criticized One Nation for keeping the videos. "It tells you everything about One Nation that they are happy to keep depicting this kind of violence," she said. Wong added that Australians want representatives focused on improving lives rather than "promoting division, violence and personal attacks."
Hanson said the cartoons are unrelated to the Haines incident. "The Please Explain cartoons have nothing to do with the tragic attack on Helen Haines. They will not be going anywhere," Hanson said. She accused Liberal and Labor politicians of seeking censorship because they dislike scrutiny, and alleged that party "dirt units" were already at work after the attack.
The cartoons' creator, Mark Nicholson, declined on Monday to apologize for another episode concerning Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie's health. That episode included a line about a prolapsed vagina, for which Hanson later apologized. Nicholson, a One Nation candidate in the upcoming Victorian state election, told the ABC he targets people with public profiles. "People who are powerful need to get a reality check," he said.
One Nation's Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, defended the content on Tuesday while agreeing that political language should cool. He said the Please Explain cartoons had "absolutely" not contributed to a decline in civility, comparing them to Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner. "Cartoons are an expression of freedom of speech," Pickering said. He added that they are not always in good taste or defensible, but that comedy can raise issues people avoid discussing. He also said the Lambie cartoon "raises dialogue on broader issues" and challenged Labor to make its own comedy.
The Victorian state election is upcoming. Mark Nicholson is running as a One Nation candidate.
