Pauline Hanson mispronounced New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's name during a lengthy press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The One Nation leader was responding to an al-Jazeera sting which caught a party official and candidate appearing to seek help and funding from the NRA.
Videos shot by the Qatar-based news outlet caught Queensland senate candidate Steve Dickson and chief of staff James Ashby discussing donations with the powerful United States gun lobby, in exchange for potentially weakening Australian gun laws.
"Today is a day of shame on the Australian media who have been sold a story - it's too good to be true, and you took it hook, line and sinker," a visibly shaking Hanson told reporters, saying they had been "blinded by their hate and bias towards One Nation and myself".
She spoke for 15 minutes, without taking questions. In that time she claimed One Nation's gun policy was "one of the strongest in the country", and it would never water down Australia's laws.
"It is stronger than the new laws put forward by New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda O'hern," she said, mispronouncing Ardern's name, "because One Nation wants to take guns off criminals and those on terror watchlists."
Hanson said comments she made on the 1996 Port Arthur massacre had been "heavily edited" to make it appear she gave credence to a conspiracy theory it had been orchestrated to crack down on gun laws. Less than two weeks after the shooting spree that left 35 dead, Australia banned many lethal semi-automatic weapons.
"There is no question in my mind that Martin Bryant was the only person responsible," said Hanson, adding that she still thinks the killer - who was intellectually disabled and mental health problems - should have received the death penalty. Tasmania abolished capital punishment in 1968.
Hanson also thanked a number of reporters and media personalities, including radio shock jocks Alan Jones and Kyle Sandilands, and a reporter from Triple M she only referred to as 'Dubbo'.
She also called al-Jazeera an "Islamist organisation" and the reporter who fooled her colleagues a "foreign agent".
Newshub.
