Only after resignation of hand-picked successor will national executive be able to elect future presidents by majority vote

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has been written into her party’s updated constitution as effective president for life.

With no term limits on her presidency, the constitution names Hanson as leader of the party’s national executive as well as the registered officer for its divisions, giving her considerable heft, News Corp reported.

“The president of the party is Pauline Lee Hanson,” the constitution now states. “Upon resigning from the position of president, Pauline Lee Hanson shall appoint her successor to become the next president of the party.”

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Only after the resignation of Hanson’s hand-picked successor will the party’s national executive be able to elect future presidents by majority vote. The constitutional changes were approved at the party’s annual general meeting in August 2017 but had been in the making since 2014.

The report quotes former One Nation national president and Queensland state director Ian Nelson recounting a meeting with Hanson in July, 2014. He had warned the changes to the constitution could be seen as dictatorial and has since fallen out with Hanson.

One Nation could be influential in an imminent byelection for the federal Queensland seat of Longman after the Labor MP Susan Lamb resigned over the dual-citizenship crisis.

A ReachTel poll of 1,277 people commissioned by the Australia Institute found the Liberals lead Labor 53% to 47% in two-party preferred terms there.

The executive director of the Australia Institute, Ben Oquist, said strong One Nation results in the poll show they could be the “difference maker” in the byelection.

“Their position on the two key tax issues of company tax cuts for big business and flat tax for high income earners will be a major factor in the campaign,” Oquist said.