One Nation rebel group
DISILLUSIONED former One Nation candidates and supporters are plotting against their former leader, with plans to soon launch a counter organisation “for the people of Australia”.
Dumped Mulgrave candidate Peter Rogers said he was involved in a Facebook Messenger online chat with about 60 disgruntled former One Nation members called EXPHON (Ex Pauline Hanson One Nation).
Mr Rogers was disendorsed by the party after it was revealed a blog he’d been in charge of had labelled the Port Arthur Massacre fake and reported dead Syrian child Aylan Kurdi, who attracted worldwide media attention when his body washed up on a beach in Turkey, was alive and well.
Mr Rogers denied writing the entries, and at the time of the controversy said he’d left a friend in charge of his website.
The Cairns businessman said the EXPHON group had been formed by people from . around Australia who were unhappy with Ms Hanson and the party’s chief of staff James Ashby.
At least three Queensland One Nation candidates have been dumped since December.
“The thing is, we’re awake now, before we weren’t, I admit to that,” Mr Rogers said. “I was clouded by their judgment, I actually followed her for 20 years, I believed in her.
“I spent last week with these people, we’re going to shake it up, I wouldn’t say it’s a political party, but we have an organis- ation together for the people of Australia.”
Mr Rogers’ comments come at a time when Ms Hanson and Mr Ashby are touring the Far North, spotted at a Mossman cafe on Monday and a dawn service in Cooktown yesterday.
While a media adviser for Ms Hanson did not say why Ms Hanson and Mr Ashby were in the Far North, Mr Rogers said it was because they were “chasing votes”.
“She knows regional and rural Queensland is where she’s going to pull a lot of votes,” he said. “When I took her up there the first time we had swarms of people coming up to her at that RSL.
“But they also had a lot questions so it’s going to be interesting to see if they can answer those this time because they’ve done nothing.”
The Cairns Post attempted to contact Ms Hanson and Mr Ashby, but was unsuccessful.
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