Pauline Hanson has revealed that the former prime minister Tony Abbott has invited her to coffee, and says she has accepted the invitation.

The One Nation leader has previously blamed Abbott for ruining her political career by bankrolling legal actions against her party that saw her sent to prison in 2003. Hanson was convicted of electoral fraud but the conviction was overturned and she was released months later.

On Sunday night’s 60 Minutes program before the commencement of the 45th parliament, where she will take her place in the Senate for the next six years, Hanson said she would have a coffee with Abbott – although she said contradictory things during the interview about whether she was prepared to forgive him for his aggressive tactics during the Howard years.

Hanson told the program “you can’t live on hate” – but then said she was like a “bloody old elephant”, remembering everything.

Abbott’s attempt at rapprochement with Hanson follows a couple of public interventions from the former prime minister in the leadup to the opening of the new parliament, including a speech late last week where he suggested his successor, Malcolm Turnbull, needed to differentiate the government from Labor rather than look for the middle ground.

During a sympathetic interview, the One Nation leader was asked whether or not she was xenophobic – a repeat of a question she was asked on the program during her first stint in federal politics in the late 1990s. Hanson answered that question somewhat infamously with a question that has become something of a signature for her: “Please explain?”

In Sunday’s encounter, Hanson said she was not xenophobic. She told her interviewer, Liz Hayes, that it was stupid to think she was fearful of foreigners.

She was asked whether or not she hated Muslims, given the One Nation platform opposes immigration from Muslims and she has called for a royal commission into Islam. She said she did not hate Muslims or Asians. “Hate’s a very strong word,” Hanson said.

She said she had taken to reading sections of the Qur’an, which she carried in her handbag, to improve her understanding of the issues.

At one point in the interview she professed herself to be openminded. “To think we are right 100% of the time is being naive and stupid.”

Hanson said she was happy to work with peace-loving Muslims “to find answers”.

During the conversation the One Nation leader struggled to articulate a specific message she would like to send to Australian voters after her election. “I don’t know what the message I would send to them [would be].”

Hanson said she would always try to be honest, upfront and accountable to her supporters and she said she would have absolutely no difficultly plotting a decisive course for her Senate bloc. “When the decisions have to be made, I will make them.”

Filmed in conversation with her new Senate colleagues, Hanson said she did not want One Nation to go the way of Clive Palmer’s political party, which disintegrated rapidly during the last parliament.

She suggested she had won support in the election in 2016 because voters needed someone to represent their interests, and Australians needed “hope”.

“I hope they give me a fair go and judge me on my performance and achievements,” Hanson said.

Her chief of staff, James Ashby, who came to public prominence when he worked for the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper, and later accused him of sexual harassment, made a couple of interventions during the 60 Minutes segment.

He told Hayes he had decided to assist Hanson, whom he described as “this little redhead”, because he felt she lacked professional support.

Ashby said it was quite odd to return to federal parliament after his history there. “I didn’t like it at all.”

He noted that the best thing Hanson had at her disposal during her coming stint in federal politics was enormous reach on social media. He said she was the second most followed politician in Australia after the prime minister. “That is a big platform,” he said.

Since the election, Hanson has been communicating with voters predominantly through social media, although she is now also starting to do traditional media interviews.