[19] Oldfield, a councillor on Manly Council in suburban Sydney and at one time an employee of Liberal minister Tony Abbott, was the organisational architect of the party.

Adopting strong protectionist policies, One Nation advocates the restoration of import tariffs, a revival of Australia's manufacturing industry, and an increase in support for small business and the rural sector.

During the formative days of One Nation, Oldfield was employed by Liberal Party backbench MP Tony Abbott as a political advisor.

Subsequently, the One Nation contingent in the Queensland Parliament split, with dissident members forming the rival City-Country Alliance in late 1999.

[28] Political scientists Ian McAllister and Clive Bean, in an analysis of the 1998 federal election, found that although it was assumed that One Nation supporters came from a traditionally conservative demographic, instead: "in a number of significant respects it in fact tends more towards Labor's profile instead.

One Nation support, for example, comes disproportionately from manual workers, trade union members, those who describe themselves as working class, the less well educated, men and people who never attend church – a list of characteristics which comes close to defining the archetypal Labor voter … [The evidence] suggests that it is Labor-style voters in rural areas – rather than the much more predominantly urban Labor voter – who are chiefly attracted to One Nation"[29]Within a year of One Nation's electoral success, three of the 11 Queensland MPs elected had quit the party claiming the leadership had too much control over the party.

Lawsuits involving ex-members did eventually force Hanson to repay approximately $500,000 of public funding won at the 1998 Queensland election amid claims by Abbott that the party was fraudulently registered.

While court hearings proceeded, Hanson ran for a seat in the NSW Upper House as an independent, but only received 1.9 per cent of the vote.

[19] It was later disclosed that Abbott had been working behind the scenes to take Ettridge and Hanson down, meeting with several disgruntled One Nation members including Sharples.

Its only remaining seat in the state (and country), Tablelands, was retained with an increased majority by Rosa Lee Long.

[34] Tablelands was abolished prior to the 2009 Queensland state election, with Lee Long failing to win the seat of Dalrymple.

[39] In the lead up to the 2016 election, Hanson arranged a "Fed Up" tour that began in July 2015 as part of her re-election campaign, flying in a private plane to Rockhampton prior to a Reclaim Australia rally,[40] piloted by James Ashby.

In March 2017, the High Court ruled that Culleton's election to the Senate was invalid in any event because of a criminal conviction in New South Wales.

[50] Hanson drew widespread condemnation when she wore the full Islamic dress into Senate Question Time, before calling for the burqa to be banned in Australia.

Liberal Party Senator and Attorney-General of Australia, George Brandis condemned Hanson's actions, declaring to the parliament that "To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do.

[58][59][60][61][62] In response, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson condemned the documentary as a "hit piece" by a Qatar government backed news agency and announced that she had filed a complaint with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

The PHON House of Representatives candidate for the Division of O'Connor, Dean Smith,[65][66] who won 8.4% (7,252) votes, was in December of the same year a target of recruitment for Neo-Nazi group The Base.

In secretly recorded tapes of his "interview" by a recruiter, Smith tells of his hatred of immigrants and his wish to "save the race".

[67] Also in 2019, Hanson received widespread condemnation in the Australian media after claiming that domestic violence victims routinely lie to the Family Court.

Some key themes of Pauline Hanson's 1998 maiden speech were opposition to what she said were increasingly high rates of immigration from Asian countries and an argument for economic protectionist policies.

[108][22] During its inception, One Nation rallied against Liberal and Labor immigration and multicultural policies which, it argued, were leading to "the Asianisation of Australia.

[112] Writer Hans-Georg Betz described One Nation and Pauline Hanson in 2019 as among "the first prominent radical right-wing populist entrepreneurs to mobilize popular resentment against a very specific target — the intellectual elite" and that in the twenty first century where "today's army of self-styled commentators and pundits summarily dismissing radical right-wing populist voters as uncouth, uneducated plebeians intellectually incapable of understanding the blessings of progressive identity politics, Hanson's anti-elite rhetoric anno 1996 proved remarkably prescient, if rather tame."

[124] One Nation supports a broadly protectionist platform, saying that it would review free trade agreements and revoke any "that are not in Australia's best interest", they also wish to reimplement import tariffs.

[132] The party argues for the introduction of Citizens Initiated Referenda (CIR) and states it will review the salaries and pensions paid to Australian politicians.

In 2021, the Senate approved a motion tabled by Pauline Hanson which called on the federal government to reject the teaching of critical race theory in Australian schools.

However, Hanson also stated the party would not take an official stance on same-sex marriage and that One Nation senators would be allowed a free vote on the issue.

[140] One Nation members and parliamentarians have criticised the increasing use of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian one.

[145] Many politicians, commentators and scientists claim that One Nation senators have spread misinformation and conspiracies on the effectiveness and scientific basis of COVID-19 vaccines.

[148] One Nation introduced legislation in 2021 pertaining to Covid-19 mandates, with the bill proposing banning discrimination on Covid-19 vaccination status in the fields of goods, services, facilities, employment, education, accommodation and sport.

[166] The Queensland branch of the party received $17,000 from the agriculture sector (meat and sugar industry) between 2016 and 2021, totaling less than one percent of all publicly declared political donations during that period;[167] the state's two major parties (Labor, Liberal National) made up 85% of total publicly declared political donations, receiving $358,270 and $1,451,991, respectively.