Pauline Hanson has reasserted control over her party after a chaotic day of manoeuvring ended with a successful meeting with embattled One Nation senator Rodney Culleton.
Culleton said he had Hanson’s full support after the meeting to explain the circumstances around a letter written by Culleton that was referred to the Queensland police amid concerns it could amount to threatening a judicial officer. Hanson confirmed she was satisfied with his explanation.
Culleton told Guardian Australia Hanson was “very comfortable” with his explanation of the letter and “fully supportive of me”.
He added that Hanson had asked if he was “alright to keep going” because she wanted to check her senators were “firing on all cylinders”. Culleton said he was OK, and she accepted that.
The saga began on Tuesday afternoon, when the Queensland attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, referred to police a letter written by Culleton to a Cairns magistrate.
The letter foreshadowed bringing in the Senate “to recall a number of judges for ‘proven misbehaviour’”, which prompted concerns in judicial ranks of a possible attempt to pervert the course of justice and threaten a judicial officer.
On ABC TV on Tuesday evening Hanson summoned Culleton to a meeting to explain the letter, which Culleton described as “a little patronising”.
He has denied the letter amounted to a threat or attempt to pervert the course of justice, and said he had intervened “in the interest of justice” on behalf of a distressed individual.
The manoeuvring continued on Wednesday when Hanson refused to attend an 11.30am meeting at Culleton’s office, then left a BBQ in a Senate courtyard when Culleton appeared with a press pack in tow.
Hanson said the eventual meeting went well and she had “got the information that I needed”.
“I just wanted to know that everything was going smoothly with his court cases, that it’s all under control.”
Asked if she had concerns he planned to represent himself in the high court challenge to his eligibility to sit in the Senate, Hanson noted Culleton would have a government-appointed lawyer, although it was unclear whether she meant to run the case independently or to represent Culleton.
“Rod’s a very strong, independent man. He’s been in the court system for quite some time, I can only give him some advice, some of my knowledge and experience, but the final decision is up to Rod.”
She spoke after she also praised conservative senator Cory Bernardi for holding views “in line” with hers, and said Malcolm Turnbull had moved to the right to hold the top job and stave off “revolt” in his party.
At the Tourism & Transport Forum Australia in Canberra on Wednesday she also said Donald Trump had triumphed in the US presidential election because he appeared to be patriotic and to love his country.
“I see in Donald Trump a lot of me ... people say I’m like Donald Trump. No, Donald Trump is saying what I was saying 20 years ago.”
Hanson said she stood for “forgotten” people who were sick of rules and the nanny state, and she wanted Australians to show more pride and “fly the flag”. She said she was not having a go at migrants and recognised it was very hard to move to a new country.
Hanson was asked about Bernardi’s comments on Wednesday that he had “to be part of the change” occurring in politics and “perhaps even in some way [be] a catalyst for it”.
Hanson pointed out Bernardi had already founded the Australian Conservatives movement, and suggested whatever he could do to “pull away” from the two major political parties, one of which he is still a member, the better.
“I like Cory Bernardi, I think he’s a straight shooter and I think he’s said a lot of things that are in line with my views and opinions.”
Asked whether Malcolm Turnbull had moved to the right, she said: “Well he has moved, otherwise he wouldn’t be there, there would’ve been a revolt. He has changed. He has to start listening to voters.”
Asked about the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill, Hanson said it was “not the case” that Culleton would vote differently to his One Nation colleagues.
