Pauline Hanson’s cartoon series is called Please Explain. Increasingly, that sounds like a request she’d rather not answer.
Hanson is defending older One Nation cartoons featuring people being struck by vehicles, including a 2023 animation showing her driving a bus over Senator Lidia Thorpe.
Then there’s The State of Melbourne, featuring Anthony Albanese, Daniel Andrews, Robert Irwin and Bluey.
Contemporary reporting describes Andrews and Albanese in a car that runs over Irwin and Bluey. More recent reporting describes Bluey subsequently running down Andrews, with Albanese apparently next.
Apparently, a wildlife presenter and a cartoon dog weren’t enough to distract the writers from another vehicle-impact punchline.
My assessment? There’s a recurring theme in Hanson’s political messaging: humiliation and violent imagery, followed by complaints that critics can’t take a joke.
It’s not a particularly good theme, or a particularly good joke. Political satire has an enormous toolbox; somehow, this series keeps reaching for the car keys.
The controversy has sharpened following the alleged attack on Helen Haines.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has warned that inflammatory political rhetoric can be followed by increases in threats and abuse. Hanson rejects a connection between her cartoons and those security concerns, insisting the videos will remain.
But accuracy matters: no established finding yet links these cartoons to the alleged attack on Haines. Investigators are still examining the suspect’s motive.
That uncertainty must be respected. It doesn’t prevent us from questioning Hanson’s judgment or lack thereof.
Satire deserves protection. So does the right to say a joke is nasty, repetitive or irresponsible.
A bad review isn’t automatically censorship. Otherwise, restaurant critics would all need constitutional lawyers.
Politicians’ policies, contradictions and broken promises provide endless material. Surely the writing room can find something sharper than another opponent under a vehicle.
Leadership means considering what your message encourages—not simply counting how many people watched it or how many people you can run over.
“It’s a cartoon” explains the medium.
Pauline still needs to explain the judgment.
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