PM ‘stunned’ over Pauline Hanson’s attack on his late mother

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was stunned after Pauline Hanson attacked his late mother for living in public housing, saying she was “way out” of the One Nation leader’s league.

Hanson criticised Albanese’s mother, Maryanne, who claimed a disability pension because of rheumatoid arthritis and lived in public housing for much of her life in Sydney’s Inner West before she died in 2002.

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Hanson said it was “not on” that his mother had lived in public housing for decades in an interview with Karl Stefanovic in February, adding that there should be a time limit.

She told The Australian this week “the prime minister complains about his housing commission upbringing”.

Albanese became emotional as he defended his mother and his upbringing from Hanson on Sunday, saying he was a “proud houso”.

“I’m proud of the community in which I grew up. I’m also proud about my mother. She was someone who had a tough life. She didn’t associate with billionaires,” he told reporters, referring to Hanson’s recent trip to Europe with Gina Reinhart.

“She was compassionate, not uncaring. She was generous, not mean, and she was kind, not nasty. She was a person of great character.

“She never complained. She never denigrated anyone. She respected everyone. And I grew up in a community that looked after each other. It was the opposite of being elite.”

Albanese’s mother met his father on a cruise in Europe in the early 1960s and became pregnant. But he was committed to another woman in Italy, leaving her to return to Australia to raise her son alone.

They lived in public housing in Camperdown.

Albanese said his mother had health issues from an early age but worked to provide for him.

“She was a battler, and for Pauline Hanson to attack someone and their character, who died in 2002, some 24 years ago, at age just 65, because she did have such a tough life with her health from an early age I am stunned at these comments,” he said.

“But I’ll make this point, if Pauline Hanson wants to criticise me, then that’s fine. But my mother was way out of Pauline Hanson’s league, way out.”

Hanson’s remarks about the prime minister’s late mother have been criticised from both sides of parliament.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie told News24 Hanson should “leave mums out of it”.

“I think this is another indicator to the Australian people that she’s not fit to be prime minister,” he said.

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“I don’t think you should be talking about the late mother of anyone in this game, and certainly not reflecting on circumstances over which she had no understanding.”

Labor Trade Minister Don Farrell called on Hanson to apologise, telling News24 that to have someone’s mother attacked publicly is appalling.

“Anthony loves his mother, as I’m sure you do, I certainly loved my mother,” he said.

“There’s a certain bitterness in One Nation’s approach to the world that I find quite un-Australian.“