Via The Guardian:
The former One Nation senator Brian Burston has denied allegations that he sexually harassed a staff member and retaliated against Pauline Hanson, his former leader, by accusing her of making unwanted advances towards him.
After Hanson used a speech in the Senate on Tuesday night to accuse an unnamed senator of “serious sexual harassment”, Burston confirmed he was the politician involved.
But Burston told News Corp on Wednesday night that one of the reasons he left One Nation was because of sexual harassment from Hanson over two decades.
“Right back when we had our first One Nation AGM at the Rooty Hill RSL [in 1998], that was the first time she hit on me,” he said, of the unwanted attention.
He claimed Hanson “rubbed her fingers up my spine” while listening to the national anthem and she had propositioned him after he was elected in 2016 at her home in Queensland and Canberra.
Hanson dismissed the accusations.
But not before this, via New Daily:
Declaring that she “might be 64, but I am not that desperate”, Senator Hanson emphatically denied the ugly claims that led to a physical clash between her former colleague and her current chief of staff.
The bizarre clash, which was filmed by Mr Ashby, left the 70-year-old Senator Burston bleeding from cuts to his hand and prompted security to be notified of the clash just outside the Great Hall of Parliament.
“My hand was injured when Ashby put his phone in the face of my wife and I defended her, fearing for her safety,” Senator Burston told The New Daily.
“I injured my hand in trying to get the phone off her. [Mr Ashby] ambushed me after attending the Minerals Council dinner where he sat at the same table. Obviously a set up,” he said.
Mr Burston indicated he would report the matter to the Australian Federal Police and seek a restraining order.
In final bizarre note, security were then called to Senator Hanson’s office after a red substance, which One Nation’s staff believe was blood, was smeared over a door.
More good news for Scummo. Might help at the margins in QLD.
