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Remember her? Anti-immigration firebrand Pauline Hanson on cusp of return to Australian politics

Hanson, who famously ditched her fish and chip shop to represent Queensland in the national parliament lost her seat in 1998 and quit as One Nation’s leader in 2002

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One Nation's Pauline Hanson last held office as the federal member in 1998. Photo: EPA
Agence France-Presse

Divisive Australian politician Pauline Hanson, who once claimed Asians were in danger of swamping the country, was Sunday on the cusp of being re-elected to parliament after a near 20-year absence.

She is one of a host of minor party candidates or independents on track to win upper house Senate seats, as voters disillusioned with the ruling conservatives and Labor opposition opted for change.

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The final counts are not yet settled but Hanson, who rose to prominence in the 1990s as head of the right-wing, anti-immigration One Nation party she co-founded, is forecast to again be headed to Canberra.

“I have got no problems with anyone – if they have got a problem with me, that’s their issue, not mine,” she said, adding that the major parties needed to start listening to grassroots Australians.

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Pauline Hanson is a former fish and chip shop owner. File photo: SMH/Reuters
Pauline Hanson is a former fish and chip shop owner. File photo: SMH/Reuters
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