Australia's One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has broken down on national television explaining her upset with several scandals her party is embroiled in.
On Tuesday, the Queensland leader of the party, Steve Dickson, resigned after footage emerged of him groping women at a United States strip club last year. In the video, he also makes disparaging comments about women.
- 'Do you feel complicit?': Pauline Hanson's explosive Christchurch attack interview
- Pauline Hanson suggests Port Arthur massacre a plot to change gun laws
- One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson resigns after strip club groping video emerges
The footage was filmed secretly while Al Jazeera investigated the party's relationship with international gun lobbies, like the National Rifle Association.
Speaking to Tracy Grimshaw of A Current Affair, the same show that broadcast the leaked Dickson video, an emotional Hanson said she was "absolutely devastated" by the scandals.
"I just feel I keep getting kicked in the guts, time and time again. And it all happens right before an election. Why were these tapes held for seven months before being released?"
She said she didn't condone Dickson's behaviour, but also strongly denied that One Nation was being assisted by the NRA, saying she was leader and his actions didn't represent the party.
Discussing her political career and the upcoming federal election, a teary Hanson said she cops a lot of flack, but only wants to represent farmers, kids and other people who feel voiceless.
"I see farmers forced off their lands, kids with no hope for the future. And people are hoping and praying that I'm going to be the voice for them. And I cop all this shit and I'm sick of it," she said.
Hanson said her party was unfairly targeted, with other Australian politicians having also conducted themselves poorly but without the same level of scrutiny as those from One Nation.
She said she didn't want to leave politics despite the personal toll it was having on her as she was making change.
"I saved people from losing their lands. I've helped the farming sector. I've helped those kids out there get apprenticeship schemes. That was introduced this year by the government - my scheme."
The One Nation founder has long been a controversial figure, with her strong anti-immigration views often being labelled as racist.
In 2016, she called for a ban on Muslim immigration into Australia and fears the country is being "swamped" by Muslims.
She was heavily criticised in 2017 for wearing a burqa in the Senate to raise a point about how it oppresses woman. But her opposition said it was to mock Islam.
Newshub.
