Editing Pauline Hanson (section)

===1998 re-election campaign===
In 1999, ''[[The Australian]]'' reported that support for One Nation had fallen from 22% to 5%.<ref>{{cite news | last = Emerson | first = Scott | title = One Nation loses its heartland | page = 6 | work=[[The Australian]] | date = 24 March 1999 }}</ref> One Nation Senate candidate Lenny Spencer blamed the press together with party director David Oldfield for the October 1998 election defeat,<ref>{{Cite news | last = Penberthy | first = David | title = Outcasts asunder | newspaper = [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] | page = 58 | date = 17 October 1998 }}</ref> while the media reported the redirecting of preferences away from One Nation as the primary reason, with a lack of party unity, poor policy choices and an "inability to work with the media" also responsible.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Scott | first = Leisa | title = It's my party and I'll cry if I want to / ONE NATION | work = [[The Australian]] | page = 3 | date = 5 October 1998 }}</ref>

Ahead of the [[1998 Australian federal election|1998 federal election]], an electoral [[Redistribution (Australia)|redistribution]] essentially split Oxley in half. Oxley was reconfigured as a marginal Labor seat, losing most of its more rural and exurban area while picking up the heavily pro-Labor suburb of [[Inala, Queensland|Inala]]. A new seat of [[Division of Blair|Blair]] was created in the rural area surrounding Ipswich.<ref name="Crikey-2017">[https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/fed2016/blair/ Poll Bludger review of Blair] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020033929/https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/fed2016/blair/ |date=20 October 2017 }} for 2016 federal election</ref> Hanson knew her chances of holding the reconfigured Oxley were slim, especially after former Labor state premier [[Wayne Goss]] won preselection for the seat.<ref>[[Antony Green|Green, Antony]]. [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2010/guide/preview_qld.htm 2010 election preview: Queensland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919084051/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2010/guide/preview_qld.htm |date=19 September 2010 }}. [[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]], 2010.</ref> After considering whether to contest a [[Australian Senate|Senate]] seat—which, by most accounts, she would have been heavily tipped to win—she opted to contest Blair.<ref name="Crikey-2017"/> Despite its very large notional Liberal majority (18.7 percent), most of her base was now located there.

Hanson launched her 1998 election campaign with a focus on jobs, rather than a focus on race/ethnicity or on "the people" against "the elites".  Instead Hanson focused on unemployment and the need to create more jobs not through government schemes but by "cheap loans to business, by more apprenticeships, and by doing something about tariffs".<ref>Goot, Murray. Pauline Hanson's One Nation: Extreme Right, Centre Party or Extreme Left? Labour History, No. 89, Nov 2005: 101–119. {{ISSN|0023-6942}}.</ref>

Hanson won 36 percent of the primary vote,<ref name="APH">{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp09a.htm |title=Federal Elections 1998 (Research Paper 9 1998–99) |publisher=Aph.gov.au |access-date=9 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713000229/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp09a.htm |archive-date=13 July 2010}}</ref> slightly over 10% more than the second-place Labor candidate, Virginia Clarke. However, with all three major parties [[ranked voting systems|preferencing]] each other ahead of Hanson, Liberal candidate [[Cameron Thompson (politician)|Cameron Thompson]] was able to win the seat despite finishing in third place on the first count. Thompson overtook Clarke on National preferences and defeated Hanson on Labor preferences.<ref name="APH" /> It has been suggested by Thompson that Hanson's litigation against parodist [[Pauline Pantsdown]] was a distraction from the election which contributed to her loss.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Bruce|title=Two Paulines, Two Nations: An Australian Case Study in the Intersection of Popular Music and Politics|journal=Popular Music and Society|date=January 2003|volume=26|issue=1|pages=53–72|doi=10.1080/0300776032000076397|s2cid=144202972}}</ref>

Nationally, One Nation gained 8.99 percent of the Senate vote<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp08a.htm#Results |title=(Research Paper 8 1998–99) |publisher=Aph.gov.au |date=27 September 2001 |access-date=9 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319030848/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp08a.htm |archive-date=19 March 2011}}</ref> and 8.4% of the Representatives vote,<ref name="APH" /> but only one MP was elected – [[Len Harris (politician)|Len Harris]] as a Senator for Queensland. [[Heather Hill (politician)|Heather Hill]] had been elected to this position, but the High Court of Australia ruled that, although she was an Australian citizen, she was ineligible for election to sit as a Senator because she had not renounced her British citizenship.<ref>{{Cite AustLII|HCA|30|1999|litigants=[[Sue v Hill]] |parallelcite=(1999) 199 [[Commonwealth Law Reports|CLR]] 462 |courtname=auto}}.</ref> The High Court found that, at least since 1986, Britain had counted as a 'foreign power' within the meaning of [[Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia|section 44(i) of the Constitution]].<ref>{{Cite Legislation AU|Cth|act|coaca430|Constitution|44}} Disqualification.</ref> Hanson alleged in her 2007 autobiography ''Pauline Hanson: Untamed & Unashamed'' that a number of other politicians had dual citizenship yet this did not prevent them from holding positions in Parliament.

In 1998, [[Tony Abbott]] had established a trust fund called "Australians for Honest Politics Trust" to help bankroll civil court cases against the One Nation Party and Hanson herself.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/specials/abbottaffair |title=Howard knew of slush fund to target Hanson |work=News Online |date=27 August 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619080814/http://www.smh.com.au/specials/abbottaffair/ |archive-date=19 June 2010}}</ref> [[John Howard]] denied any knowledge of the existence of such a fund.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/s933534.htm |title=Abbot denies lying over anti-Hanson fund |work=News Online |publisher=Lateline (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |date=27 August 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523081927/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/s933534.htm |archive-date=23 May 2010}}</ref> Abbott was also accused of offering funds to One Nation dissident Terry Sharples to support his court battle against the party. However, Howard defended the honesty of Abbott in this matter.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/28/1062028265844.html |title=Honest Tony's too up front, says PM |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=28 August 2003 |access-date=8 July 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604101522/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/28/1062028265844.html |archive-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> Abbott conceded that the political threat One Nation posed to the Howard Government was "a very big factor" in his decision to pursue the legal attack, but he also said he was acting "in Australia's national interest". Howard also defended Abbott's actions saying "It's the job of the Liberal Party to politically attack other parties – there's nothing wrong with that."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663855108.html |title=Watchdog rethinks Liberal links to Abbott's slush fund |first1=Mike |last1=Seccombe |first2=Damien |last2=Murphy |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=28 August 2003 |access-date=8 July 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604101520/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663855108.html |archive-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>