Pauline Hanson will reportedly ask the Senate to refer rebel One Nation senator Fraser Anning to the high court over a dropped bankruptcy case that may bring his eligibility into question.

On Monday the Australian reported that Hanson would write to Scott Ryan questioning Anning’s eligibility, a bid to retain control of One Nation’s fourth Senate seat which Anning has dismissed as “frivolous”.

Anning won the Queensland Senate seat previously held by Malcolm Roberts in a recount after Roberts was found to be a dual British citizen. He separated from One Nation on the day of his swearing-in, and has since been courted by the Nationals and Bob Katter.

Hanson’s letter to Ryan reportedly suggests Anning may not be eligible to sit in the Senate because he was an “undischarged bankrupt or insolvent” or had benefited from “any law relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors”.

Before his selection, Anning and his wife Fiona Ruth Anning were the subject of bankruptcy proceedings in the federal circuit court filed by a Bendigo and Adelaide Bank subsidiary, ABL Nominees, which claimed they owed $239,393.49.



On 3 October the petition was dropped after a confidential settlement which cleared the way for Anning to enter the Senate.

Hanson acknow­ledges in her letter that Anning avoided bankruptcy but challenges the legitimacy of the settlement, questioning whether he was able to settle only when it became apparent he could replace Roberts in the Senate and be paid a salary of $200,000.

Anning has responded that he has never been bankrupt or insolvent and therefore cannot be disqualified. Any reference to the high court would be “frivolous”, he said.

“I was the subject of a bankruptcy application by ABL Nominees. After negotiations, ABL Nominees withdrew their application.

“Specific details of the settlement are confidential and will not be released or discussed.”

A reference from the Senate would require majority support, meaning one or both of the major parties would have to support Hanson’s push. If Anning were found ineligible, Hanson’s sister Judy Smith would be his likely replacement in the Senate, bringing One Nation’s seat count back up to four.

Rosalind Dixon, a constitutional law expert at the University of New South Wales, told the Australian the 1987 Nile v Wood case suggested Anning was not an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent because he was not found to be so by the court.