The National Press Club has apologised to Senator Hanson for the banner stunt, and has admitted it wasn’t its “best moment”. Photo: GetUp!
Just as Pauline Hanson was hitting her stride at Wednesday’s (17 June) address to the National Press Club, a projection screen behind her started lowering, revealing a banner criticising her voting record on workers’ rights.
The banner showed a cartoonish black and white picture of Hanson with the words, “I opposed a pay rise for workers, while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself”.
Club CEO Maurice Reilly and a couple of other staff quickly tore the banner down, but not before many of the assembled media got photos.
The damage had been done, and photos of a perplexed and flustered Senator Hanson standing in front of the banner have dominated newspaper front pages and online story headers overnight and this morning (18 June).
On Wednesday afternoon left-wing protest group GetUp! claimed responsibility for the stunt, saying “We did it!” in a three-word statement.
“Pauline Hanson has built her entire brand on being for the battlers. But her record tells a different story,” GetUp! CEO Paul Ferris later said.
“One Nation has consistently opposed wage rises, affordable childcare, increases to the aged pension, and housing affordability measures.
“We thought the occasion deserved some honesty. So, we provided it.”
GetUp!’s Media and Campaigns Lead and former political staffer and journalist David Sharaz was seen in the audience at the address, and reportedly left soon after the stunt.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the press club said it had cleared its staff from any responsibility in the stunt, and had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
“The National Press Club can confirm that the incident to disrupt Senator Hanson’s address was undertaken by third parties,” Mr Reilly said.
“We have referred the relevant footage and other evidence to the AFP for further investigation.
“The organisation ‘GetUp!’ is claiming credit for the stunt,” he added.
Mr Reilly said two people had entered the club on Tuesday afternoon (16 June) without permission and had installed the drop-down screen in front of the room’s media wall/light box.
“It is evident that a further person present during the address activated a remote device to trigger the unfurling of the coiled banner,” he said.
“David Sharaz was seen filming the incident on his phone and, after the banner had lowered, left abruptly. We understand that this is likely to form part of the AFP investigation.
“The club sincerely apologises to Senator Hanson for the incident.”
National Press Club president and SkyNews presenter Tom Connell said the stunt just fed into Senator Hanson’s narrative about her and One Nation being targeted by the media, and that the club’s failure to prevent it was not its “best moment”.
