By Will Nicholas and Noah Secomb in Canberra

Pauline Hanson’s character is still a “10 out of 10” despite her apology for past comments labelling indigenous Australians “the most primitive race on Earth”, Barnaby Joyce says.

The One Nation leader on Tuesday said she regretted her comments on First Nations people and apologised, but she stood by her opinion the culture was primitive compared to that of English settlers.

Mr Joyce said Senator Hanson should get top marks for acknowledging the comments and apologising for any harm caused.

“She gets 10 out of 10 for character for doing it straight away,” the One Nation MP told News24.

“I don’t need to encourage Pauline to do that. She can work that out very quickly for herself and I agree with her completely.”

Mr Joyce said that, in contrast, he was still waiting for the prime minister to apologise for “the melon issue” – a reference to comments and a suggestive hand gesture that Anthony Albanese made about a gift from the Japanese prime minister.

Senator Hanson took a day to apologise after her comments, made in a 2025 podcast interview, were reported, initially posting a clip of the remarks on social media and adding “you be the judge”.

She later accused the Liberal Party of digging up dirt on One Nation to discredit the rival right-wing party and distract from its policy announcements.

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson strongly refuted her claims.

“What One Nation is experiencing is the scrutiny that comes when you say you’re running to form a government and that’s unusual and uncomfortable for One Nation,” he told ABC radio.

“But you don’t need a private investigator to find a YouTube video of a podcast that Senator Hanson or Malcolm Roberts or other colleagues have recorded.”

Experts believe it’s unlikely the recent controversies will put a big dent in One Nation’s primary support, which has easily eclipsed that of the coalition for months, according to multiple polls.

Despite shocking many, Senator Hanson’s views should not come as a surprise, Monash University populism expert Benjamin Moffitt told AAP.

“She does not like indigenous people. She’s a far-right nativist, racist and nothing’s changed there,” he said.

Senator Hanson made headlines in 1996 when she called for the removal of government assistance for indigenous Australians, comments that led to the Liberals dumping her as a candidate.

A creature of the political fringe, it took nearly 30 years for voters deserting the major parties to catapult her into the mainstream, Dr Moffitt said.

“That’s the difference here, One Nation is … trying to position themselves as the opposition,” he said.

Populists overseas had a bigger shield, even if their policies were perceived as cruel, Dr Moffit said, pointing to the ability of leaders such as US President Donald Trump to laugh off controversies.

“Hanson doesn’t quite have that and we see that Barnaby Joyce has to come in and clean up the mess,” he said.

Indigenous issues were unlikely to trouble One Nation’s headline polling figures, YouGov pollster Paul Smith told AAP.

“The thing that has the greatest impact on her lead amongst working-class voters is her support for making it easier to sack workers … this is her actual Achilles heel,” he said.

Those views were raised during a fiery speech from independent senator Jacqui Lambie on Tuesday, drawing parallels between Mr Trump, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Senator Hanson, who is backed by billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

“They care about hanging out with billionaires and feathering their own nests,” Senator Lambie said.

One Nation is level with Labor at 25 per cent of first-preference votes, according to Tuesday’s Roy Morgan poll.

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