The man who sparked legal action from Pauline Hanson over his parody of her says the One Nation leader is “wanting it both ways” after she was slapped with a concerns notice over her satirical cartoon of Robert Irwin.
Simon Hunt is a satirist better known as his drag persona Pauline Pantsdown. As Pantsdown (which he legally changed his name to at one point), he produced the songs “Backdoor Man” and “I Don’t Like It”, both comedic parodies of Hanson that used samples of Hanson’s voice to parody and critique her policies on immigration and welfare.
“Backdoor Man” included lyrics such as “I’m a backdoor man for the Ku Klux Klan, with very horrendous plans” and “I’m homosexual. I’m very proud of it”. The songs became a hit on the ABC, with “Backdoor Man” landing at number five on the 1997 Triple J Hottest 100. “I Don’t Like It” peaked at 10 on the ARIA charts during the 1998 federal election, when Hunt ran as a Senate candidate in New South Wales.
In 1998, Hanson successfully sought an injunction to stop the ABC from playing “Backdoor Man”.
Hunt said of the Robert Irwin cartoon saga and Hanson’s defamation claim that she would “have to argue exactly the opposite of what she argued in my case”, and that it was an example of “Pauline wanting it both ways”.
Hunt said that the saga reminded him of a speech Hanson gave in 2018 in which she claimed she “hadn’t flip-flopped” on the issue of company tax cuts, but had simply “said no originally, then said yes, then said no, and … stuck to it”.
In Hanson’s original statement of claim, provided by Hunt to Crikey, she claimed that the song made several imputations, including that she “engages in unnatural sexual practices including anal sex with the Ku Klux Klan”.
Hanson claimed “damage to her political image” as one of the impacts the song had on her.
It closely mirrors what is happening 26 years later, as Hanson sits on the receiving end of a defamation threat over comedic representations of others.
Robert, the 20-year-old son of Australian wildlife conservation icon Steve Irwin, has threatened Hanson with legal action over the latest episode of her Please Explain cartoon series, which often targets her political rivals.
The episode featured a portrayal of Robert Irwin, who has taken over his late father’s post as the face of Australia Zoo, saying that the “Queensland government has given us a disgusting amount of money to show you the state of Queensland”, before sarcastically touring a cartoon version of Queensland riddled with social and political problems.
Irwin’s lawyer Zoe Naylor sent a concerns notice to the directors of the production company responsible for the video, asking for the video to be taken down “immediately” and threatening legal action.
“We are writing to inform you that your actions constitute defamation and involve the unauthorised and deceptive use of our client’s image”, the letter said.
It also claims the cartoon “may be an attempt to pass yourself or [the] party as currently being affiliated or otherwise authorised by us, which you are not”, and that it “tarnished our client’s reputation”.
Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby is reported to have told Irwin to “lighten up”, saying that “[his] dad would’ve seen the funny side of it”.
Steve Irwin died in 2006, when Robert was three years old, after being stung by a stingray while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
Despite her legal history with satire and defamation, Hanson, through a letter written by her lawyers in response to Irwin’s concerns notice, has refused to take down the video, claiming it “does not convey a representation or pass off any association of affiliation with [Irwin]” and “does not defame [Irwin]”.
In the cartoon, Irwin’s cartoon parody, alongside his “best mate Bluey”, goes on to tour Queensland and has a number of interactions mocking the state. He is yelled at by a portrayed angry Native Title owner that wants him to get off the beach, said to be for “whitefellas only”.
“Oh no, Bluey! Racial division!”
Irwin’s cartoon then goes on to look at what he presumes to be a lineup for a ride at Movie World, only to be told it was “an inspection for a one-bedder in Rockhampton”, as well as a wind farm in the rainforest that blows a wedge-tailed eagle to smithereens.
Irwin’s Land Cruiser gets stolen by “juvenile delinquents”, only for Irwin to sarcastically turn to the recently announced policy of 50c public transport fares, which he says “doesn’t help us folks out here in the country at all”.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Simon Hunt ran for the Senate in Queensland in 1998. He in fact ran in New South Wales.
