Pauline Hanson is facing another political headache after video surfaced of One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts claiming deaths were “staged” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It comes as One Nation recorded a dip in popularity according to a major national poll, and as state by-election candidate Luke Herdegen brushes off criticism of his past cocaine use, despite the party cracking down on crime.

In a video interview published in 2025 and first reported by the Nine newspapers, Senator Roberts questions the extent of deaths during the early days of the pandemic.

“Major news broadcasters had these videos of people dying in their droves in makeshift morgues in the streets of New York, the streets of Beijing, the streets of Italy,” Senator Roberts told a forum hosted by podcaster Sam Hope.

“We thought it is pretty serious from what we’ve seen. We didn’t realise until fairly recently that those were all staged. They’re bullshit.”

Senator Roberts also questioned the severity of the illness, saying if you don’t take into account the most vulnerable such as the elderly and immunocompromised, the severity must be low.

“The chief medical officer who was involved in staging a lot of the lies we were told by the bureaucracy … the chief medical officer’s graphs showed low to moderate severity,” he said.

“We were conned.”

Senator Roberts said he wrote to then-prime minister Scott Morrison and former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk requesting “evidence” but didn’t receive a reply.

Senator Hanson has come under pressure to sack her long-term political colleague, who has been accused of embracing conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes.

A Roy Morgan poll published on Tuesday showed One Nation’s primary vote had dipped 5.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent, while the coalition registered an increase of three per cent to 23 per cent and Labor was unchanged on 27.5 per cent.

Senator Hanson has come under fire since returning from the UK, where she conducted an interview with anti-immigration activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson and told a conservative conference Australia had been “flooded” with migrants.

She also visited Italy with billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Senator Hanson of using the trip to engage with fringe people and to talk Australia down.

“I find it astonishing that Pauline Hanson has travelled overseas in order to denigrate and talk down Australia,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on the weekend, he said Senator Roberts had “a history of promoting conspiracy theories”.

“This is a guy who’s been elected and re-elected, and endorsed and re-endorsed, multiple times by Pauline Hanson and One Nation,” Albanese said.

“And his views are not worthy of being a senator.”

Candidate defends drugs past

Senator Hanson has backed gym owner Luke Herdegen to run in the West Australian seat of Secret Harbour, an electorate south of Perth.

A coach and fitness manager, Herdegen vows to be tough on crime, aligning with the views of WA One Nation leader Rod Caddies.

“Crime is up in the suburbs with the electorate, as is homelessness. Traffic for morning commuters is getting worse,” Caddies wrote in a social media post.

Herdegen has brushed off criticism of his past, including a 2019 social media post where he admitted to heavily using cocaine before turning his life around.

“That’s a story I put out there to try and help inspire people to live happier and healthier lives,” Herdegen said on Tuesday.

“When I’m in the streets of Secret Harbour, they’re not asking me about a blog post from 10 years ago.

“I deactivated my social media to protect my family from people like (journalists).”

When Senator Hanson was asked about the cocaine use, she said she knew nothing of it.

“I have been out of the country and I just briefly met Luke yesterday,” she said, referring to her European trip which included a sojourn in Italy with billionaire backer Gina Rinehart.

It came just days after Caddies backed the party’s candidate-vetting process.

“I am very satisfied,” Caddies told the West Australian.

“We used a system which checks everything – adverse media, email screening, phone screening, banned or disqualified persons’ screening, court screening.”

Senator Hanson has vowed to put Labor and the Greens last in preferencing for the by-election.

One Nation has attacked Labor through AI-generated social media posts that claim the state government has neglected the seat.

Speaking at a Seven West Media event in Perth, Senator Hanson said she hoped to work with the Liberals and Nationals to kick Labor out of Secret Harbour.

Labor won 46 per cent of first preferences in the seat at the 2025 election.

One Nation came in fourth place, just below the Greens, with 8.4 per cent of first preferences, more than double the party’s statewide average.

—AAP