One Nation leader calls on Burston, who learnt about his expulsion during a live radio interview, to resign from the party

A defiant Brian Burston has told Pauline Hanson she will have to sack him to be rid of him from One Nation after learning on live radio his leader had called on him to resign. The New South Wales senator accused his party leader of having “a massive dummy spit” and running a “dictatorship”.

During a scheduled afternoon interview on Sydney radio 2GB, Burston was read a letter Hanson had sent him earlier in the afternoon, asking him to resign from the party and the Senate in order for One Nation to take back his seat. The interview had originally been set up for Burston to explain his side of his relationship breakdown with Hanson.

BenFordham (@BenFordham) EXCLUSIVE: @PaulineHansonOz says PLEASE RESIGN to @SenatorBurston. #auspol Senator Burston is about to respond on @SydneyLive2GB pic.twitter.com/gO30F9SYg8

The letter had been released on social media, but Burston, in a live exchange with host Ben Fordham, said he had not seen it.

“I am guessing you have seen that letter from Pauline Hanson,” Fordham said.

“No, I haven’t,” Burston replied.

“You haven’t seen it?”

“No.”

“It was sent to you this afternoon.”

“Oh. OK. I’ll have to have a look for it.”

“It was sent to your office this afternoon, via your chief of staff, I believe. They haven’t shown it to you?”

“No, my chief of staff is out of the office in northern New South Wales at the moment. He may not have picked it up either.”

“Do you want me to read it to you?”

“Yes please.”

After hearing that Hanson “no longer had confidence” in him and had removed him as the deputy registered officer both in NSW and federally, while imploring him to resign from the Senate as the “honourable thing to do”, Burston responded “well, that’s disappointing”.

“She is saying she’s no longer got the confidence I’ll agree with every single decision she makes, as president for life,” he said.

“I thought I joined One Nation as a democractic political party, not a dictatorship.

“I am very disappointed with that letter, however I shall inform – over radio 2GB – senator Hanson I will not be vacating my senator position in the house and I shall not be resigning from One Nation.

“If she wants to remove me from One Nation, she is entitled to cancel my membership and that will make me an independent, but that is her call.”

Burston said he had shown Hanson “loyalty for 22 years”.

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“Unfortunately because I said I was going to cross the floor, which hasn’t happened yet, she has had a massive dummy spit and I am very disappointed with her immature and childish reaction to it,” he said.

“The crocodile tears last night I believe were genuine, but that was mainly in response to the allegations I was trying to join another political party, which was false. So, I will not be resigning from One Nation and I certainly will not ever resign from my Senate position.”

One Nation launched an internal investigation into allegations Burston had looked to join the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party on Thursday.

A furious Hanson, who had learned Burston had reportedly made an approach to join another party just moments before going on air with Sky News on Thursday night, declared Burston would not “finish her” and that she would “win”.

Play Video 0:57 Pauline Hanson close to tears over party troubles – video

Burston said the approach to the Shooter’s party was made by a constituent of his, without his knowledge. He maintained he had not made any approach himself.

“I’ll be one of the other 23 people who have either walked or been sacked,” Burston said of Hanson’s record as party leader. “I’ll be 24 out of 30, not a good record.”

At the same time, Hanson and James Ashby were canvassing for what has been described as a “conservative crossbench super bloc” party with allied senators.

Mark Latham was reportedly the party’s No 1 pick. On Friday afternoon the Daily Telegraph confirmed he had joined the Liberal Democrats and was expected to run for the party at the NSW state election.

One Nation senator defies Pauline Hanson over company tax cuts Read more

DAvid Leyonhjelm said he had not been approached, and Cory Bernardi told Guardian Australia, he would “not confirm or deny” any appoach having been made and that “private conversations would remain private”.

“I have zero interest in joining any other political party,” he said.

Bob Katter, who at one stage flirted with the idea of joining his party with Hanson’s in Queensland, also ruled out a merger, while his son Robbie, who leads the party in the Katters’ home state, said he had not been “formally approached” but discussions with other parties “happened all the time”.

“We are pretty confident within ourselves as a party,” he told Guardian Australia.

“We’ll always try and work constructively with other crossbenchers to try and reduce the influence of the major parties, but we’re pretty happy with what we are doing.”

Some crossbenchers reported a “real turn-around” in One Nation’s attitude after Hanson’s April trip to Afghanistan failed to create the predicted media storm.

“I think that is when they began to think ‘hang on, what’s happening here?’ because a year ago, you’d be seeing photos of her on that base for weeks. Even her home paper has cooled.”

The breakdown in the relationship between Hanson and Burston was traced back to February, when Hanson announced former senator Malcolm Roberts would be the party’s lead Senate candidate in Queensland. Burston and WA senator Peter Georgiou were told they would have to “submit their papers like all the other candidates”.

“Brian was very affronted by that,” one source close to the senator said. “He felt that was very unfair, he took offence at the whole thing, that Malcolm was anointed for Queensland, but he, who was still in the Senate representing the party, would have to apply, with the idea they were looking for someone better.”

Hanson was understood to also be weighing up Burston’s future, after the “preference whisperer”, Glenn Druery, who has long stiched up deals with minor parties, ensuring their electoral future, told her the other parties would not work with Burston.

Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) Thank you for all the kind messages of support! I know I wear my heart on my sleeve sometimes but I have always tried to be open & honest with the people. I will continue to work hard in the Senate fighting for what I believe in & fighting for Australia. -PH

Burston and Hanson fell out following the disintegration of One Nation in the late 1990s, with Burston sacked from the party in 2000 following “internal disputes”.

The pair mended their relationship in the following years, and Burston has said it was his idea for Hanson to take back the One Nation name before her 2016 election win, which, after years of false starts, successfully catapulted her back into parliament.

Arriving with another three senators, Hanson held a decisive bloc, which was weakened following a fallout with Rod Culleton, who was later found to have been ineligible for election.

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A second blow was dealt after her Queensland stablemate Roberts was found to have been a dual citizen, and also ineligible to sit in parliament, and his replacement, Fraser Anning, left the party moments after being sworn into the Senate.

Hanson is due to fly to the UK on Saturday as part of a parliamentary delegation. She has said she will try to visit Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed last week for contempt of court after broadcasting live video from outside a court in Leeds that threatened to cause a trial to collapse. The case of Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has become a touchstone for the international extreme right.

Burston did not return multiple requests for comment.