This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

A former president of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party says he has been refused entry to its national conference because he wanted to raise concerns about how the party is being managed.

Former president Jim Savage – one of about six disgruntled members refused entry to the meeting in Brisbane on Saturday – said there was no democracy in the party and members were treated with “disgust”.

“None of these clowns that are running the party have any idea of the party’s history, what our policies are and what our standards are,” he said.

Savage said he had been a member for more than 20 years and would consider court action to declare the meeting null and void because notifications had been sent later than required by the party’s constitution.

Pensioners were charged $100 to attend the conference, while other members were charged $150.

Women's groups urge crossbench to reverse support for Hanson-led family court inquiry Read more

Disgruntled members launched a GoFundMe page to help some of the party’s struggling members afford the price of entry.

Conference organisers and Hanson’s office refused on Friday to confirm the location of the conference because of security risks.

Savage said Pauline Hanson should not be a senator and party leader.

“If you’re going to be a senator representing the whole of Queensland, it’s pretty much a full-time job,” he said. “If she’s spending her time doing party business then she’s not doing her job as a senator.”

Savage said there were questions to be asked at the conference about party finances, which he says had been kept secret from members.

He said that Hanson had dismantled party leadership committees across Australia after being elected.

“There’s not a single executive member that was in place in 2014 that’s left,” Savage said. “Most of them are not even in the party anymore.”

One Nation’s chief of staff, James Ashby, said no one from the party was commenting on the conference.

Hanson is facing further internecine party conflict. Former One Nation senator Brian Burston has filed a defamation action seeking $1m in damages from Hanson.

Burston’s statement of claim in the Queensland supreme court alleges he was defamed in a letter by Hanson written to the president of the Senate in February in which she named Burston and raised sexual harassment and unfair dismissal allegations against him.

Burston claims the letter carried defamatory imputations that he mistreated staff, was mentally ill and had been the subject of numerous sexual harassment complaints.

He says he was also defamed in the text of a caption on the Facebook page “Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain” in which he was not named but claims he could be identified, and which he claims imputed he cheated on his wife, was under investigation for sexual harassment and treated several staff “horribly”.

Burston’s statement of claim carries a number of other claims of defamation, including by text message sent by Hanson to his wife, and in a television interview.

After a bitter falling out with the party leader, which began as a policy dispute but descended into rancorous personal accusations, Burston left One Nation to join Clive Palmer’s United Australia party. He failed in his re-election bid in May.