Hanson may have lost a Senator
And then there were three.
It seems that Pauline Hanson has already lost one of her Senators, with Rod Culleton refusing to say if he'll stay with One Nation.
The Federal Government will on Monday ask the Senate to refer Senator Culleton's election to the High Court because he had been convicted of an offence carrying a jail term of one year or more at the time of the July 2 poll.
That may make him ineligible to sit in the Upper House. The conviction has since been quashed.
Senator Culleton said he had not spoken with Senator Hanson in recent days, since she issued a statement on Thursday urging him to make an "informed decision about his future"...
"My gut feeling is I will remain an honourable senator in the senate … representing my West Australian constituents."...
The West Australian would not commit to his future with One Nation, when asked repeatedly by the ABC.
"I've had to really concentrate on what's right for me at the moment and my constituents back in Western Australia," he said.
Culleton will probably be stripped of his seat by the High Court, so Pauline Hanson can hope that his replacement will stay in her tent. Trouble is, that replacement will probably be Culleton's brother-in-law, Peter Georgiou, unless Hanson can engineer a safer successor:
The son of Greek migrants, he's relaxed about immigration, not fazed by Australia's Muslim community and names a former Labor prime minister as one of his political heroes.
"I was quite fond of Paul Keating in his heyday," Mr Georgiou told Fairfax Media...
Mr Georgiou, who admits he doesn't think much of Tony Abbott or Bill Shorten, said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is doing the best he can...
"At the end of the day, I don't think it really matters what religion you are. Whether they're Muslim or Buddhist and want to come into Australia, I think you should apply and go down the proper channels to come into this country."