Hanson aide scraps with senator
Australia
Australian Senate President Scott Ryan has launched an urgent investigation into an ugly fight between United Australia Party senator Brian Burston and fellow senator Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff.
Ryan has spoken to House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith about the physical clash between Burston and James Ashby outside a dinner at Parliament House on Wednesday. ‘‘We will be looking into this matter as a matter of urgency. We both regard this as a grave matter,’’ he told parliament yesterday.
He said a range of issues were raised by the incident, including the use of media, assault claims, and potential privileges concerns around senators being prevented from going about their business.
Ashby filmed Burston in the lead-up to the altercation, which left the One Nation defector with a bandaged hand when he arrived at work yesterday.
Images appear to show Hanson’s office door smeared with streaks of blood.
The stoush erupted after Hanson on Tuesday night used parliamentary privilege to accuse an unnamed senator of sexually harassing at least six staff. Burston outed himself as the mystery alleged culprit, telling News Corp it was ‘‘bulls...’’, and going on to claim that he left One Nation after being sexually harassed by Hanson.
He claimed Hanson had once ‘‘rubbed her fingers up my spine’’ while listening to the national anthem, and propositioned him after he was elected in 2016 at her home in Queensland and in Canberra.
The One Nation leader laughed off the allegations, saying she was ‘‘not that desperate’’.
Hanson said yesterday Burston needed to ‘‘get some anger management’’.
Burston claimed Ashby approached him as he and his wife were leaving the function, and he was injured when he tried to grab a phone Ashby was waving in his face.
‘‘I lost it,’’ he said. ‘‘I grabbed him and I pushed him up against the wall.’’
He said he had reported the incident to Australian Federal Police. – AAP