Pauline Hanson says domestic violence prevents police from dealing with ‘real crime’ in unearthed interview

In a podcast aired last year, the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, said domestic violence prevented police from focusing on ‘real crime’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP View image in fullscreen In a podcast aired last year, the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, said domestic violence prevented police from focusing on ‘real crime’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Pauline Hanson says domestic violence prevents police from dealing with ‘real crime’ in unearthed interview One Nation leader labels family violence leave ‘ridiculous’ and decries ‘woke’ support of women’s rights in November podcast Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Pauline Hanson has described paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as “ridiculous”, and suggested the issue is taking police away from “real crime”, calling for the family law system to be “wound back”. In an unearthed interview, the One Nation leader said the advancements of women’s rights in the family law system over the decades had become “broken” because they favoured women and were now “suppressing the males all the time”. The comments, made on the Broken Fathers podcast in November 2025, and first reported by the Nine newspapers, resurfaced as Hanson hit back at the criticism over her suggestion that domestic violence is a “two-way street”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The firebrand senator has responded to the backlash by accusing the media and the Labor party of “twisting” her words. In the podcast, which focuses on the perspectives of fathers during family court matters, Hanson said she saw the introduction of 10 days of domestic violence leave as “ridiculous”, labelling it a “holiday”. “Ten days a year, they brought that in, so everyone’s, you know, claiming domestic violence and everything like that,” she said. Brittany Higgins accuses Pauline Hanson of victim-blaming for calling domestic violence a ‘two-way street’ Read more “It’s ridiculous.” Ten days of paid family violence leave was introduced during the Albanese government’s first term. Under a program introduced in 2024, victim-survivors can access up to $5,000 in individualised financial support if they are leaving a violent relationship. During the 70-minute podcast, Hanson repeatedly referred to the system as “broken” and in need of an overhaul, pointing to “feminist” and women’s groups pushing their agenda to favour mothers in family violence situations. “I do think it is broken because we’ve got too many woke people in parliament now, and it’s pushing women’s rights,” Hanson said. “But with … women’s rights, you’ve got to have women’s responsibilities.” The 72-year-old senator, who has been in the political spotlight over the past three decades, also suggested the majority of police work was being dominated by family violence incidents while “real crime” was being overlooked. “Do you know that domestic violence takes up about 75% of police officers’ time now?” the senator said. “And that’s al