'Wanker': Hanson slams Hastie + What can save Australia's ski industry

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:08)

Hey, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you, welcome to The Briefing. The ski season is winding up weeks early in most spots, with some of the country's best alpine resorts closing simply because there's no snow.

Lily O'Neil (0:20)

Our mountains are kind of the canary in the coal mine for climate change, and once the snow starts disappearing in Australia as it is, we kind of have to read the room and see that the rest of the country is in a fair bit of trouble too.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:32)

Can the Aussie ski season be saved? That chat is coming up in the second half of this episode, but first it's time for the headlines with Chris Spyrou on Thursday the 10th of September.

Chris Spyrou (0:44)

Morning Sach, Pauline Hanson has spent the last 24 hours on the defence after her Victorian One Nation leader admitted to prior drug use. In a press conference, Warren Pickering confirmed he'd used marijuana, speed and ecstasy before joining the defence force in his late 20s. He also admitted to losing his licence three times to drink driving offences after his former partner made the claims which were published in The Australian.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:07)

It sparked a national conversation around the expectations of politicians, as some questioned whether Pickering was fit to run for office and potentially become the next Premier of Victoria, but the One Nation leader has come out in full support of him.

Pauline Hanson (1:20)

Who in this country possibly hasn't not tried drugs?

A great majority of people have. He didn't have to say anything at all. He could have just withdrawn from this race. He's put himself out there. He had to expose a lot of stuff that he didn't have to, but he thought, I'm going to clear the air with this. I'm going to leave it up to people of Victoria to cast their vote on November 28th, who they want to vote for in Victoria.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:45)

On News 24 there.

Chris Spyrou (1:46)

But that's not the only thing Hanson has been forced to defend, with Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie demanding her party remove a cartoon it was published in which he was called a traitor.

SPEAKER_5 (1:56)

Traitor? Why are they calling you a traitor? I don't know. All I did was testify against Ben Robert Smith and support your evil hate speech legislation after promising not to. Yeah right, that is pretty traitorous actually. You know, I always dreamt that one day I'd be the chosen one and stab the leader in the back and become the leader of the Liberal party. But now I'll never be the leader and it's all my fault because I'm a stupid traitor.

Chris Spyrou (2:18)

So that was a grab from Pauline Hanson's Please Explain cartoon series that was published back in July and what you heard there was an exchange between cartoons that are in the image and likeness of Anthony Albanese and Andrew Hastie.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:34)

Yeah, so to give some context to what was said there, Hastie is a former SAS officer who served in Afghanistan and he was called to testify against accused war criminal and former soldier Ben Robert Smith at his trial and he has labelled Hanson and Barnaby Joyce lying cowards over the video, challenging them to own the accusations that were aired in the cartoon or delete it all together.

Andrew Hastie (2:55)

I've had all sorts of abuse from people who've seen that video and beforehand actually and I've had to have security upgrades to my office and my house. So this is a very serious matter and I'm not backing down and that's why I call her a lying coward.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (3:10)

On News 24 again there.

Chris Spyrou (3:11)

In a statement to The Nightly, Hanson commented she'd never called him a traitor but would quote call him a wanker. She is refusing to remove the video.

Pauline Hanson (3:22)

I'd encourage people go and have a look at it and make up the But do you own the words?

SPEAKER_5 (3:25)

I'm not going to be a drug. Well, you own the words. I am not going to.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (3:27)

Do you own the words though?

SPEAKER_5 (3:28)

Well, I didn't. Do you own those words? I did not say the words.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (3:30)

Do you say he's a traitor? So that was Chris Kenny and Pauline going at it. On News 24 again, they had all the pollies speaking yesterday. That all transpired last night. Hastie came out during the day but then last night they did those additional press appearances on the late night news program. So I guess the question then for Australians is if your party is publishing something, as you as the leader, do you have to own up to what it says?