Hanson Pledges to Scrap SBS, Make ABC a ‘Subscription’ Service

‘The SBS will be gone. There’s no need for it anymore,’ Pauline Hanson said.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) logo adorns the top of it's Melbourne headquarters, as journalist and staff strike demanding better pay and protections to stop artificial intelligence taking their jobs, in Melbourne, Australia on March 25, 2026. William West/AFP via Getty Images

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has vowed to scrap the multi-language Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and drastically reduce the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) operations if her party wins the next federal election.

Hanson made the announcement during a National Press Club address in Canberra on June 17.

“Rest assured, there will be big changes if One Nation is given the chance,” Hanson told the audience. “The SBS will be gone. There’s no need for it anymore, the internet has overtaken the need for it.”

Hanson said her plans for a scaled-back ABC would include maintaining its services in rural areas lacking commercial media, while the broadcaster would become a subscription-only service in major cities.

“From its chairman down, the ABC has proven itself to be completely in denial about its profoundly transparent political bias and the activists in its ranks,” she said.

A graphic composition created on Dec. 9, 2025, shows One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson (left) and Barnaby Joyce. AAP Graphics/Paul Braven

“Yet, they think of themselves as a pillar of democracy. The arrogance is stunning in its scope.”

Hanson said she had at times refused ABC interviews and would continue to do so.

“Remember this—I don’t answer to the media,” she said. “I answer to the Australian people. Australians’ trust in the media, the government and public institutions is at an all-time low.”

The One Nation leader went on to say the media has to earn the public’s trust.

“Many see you as part of the problem. In some respects, they’re right,” she said.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the ABC and SBS for comment.

Exchange With Journalist

During the question and answer segment, Hanson fielded a question from Guardian journalist Sarah Martin.

“Taxpayers are paying more than $150,000 (US$106,000) a year for your daughter, Lee Hanson, to seemingly campaign full-time in Tasmania while [being] employed a political adviser for a New South Wales senator,” Martin said.

“Did you have any role in appointing her to that position?”

Hanson responded in strong terms and criticised the journalist for her question.

“You’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down me, my party, or Mrs. [Gina] Rinehart,” Hanson said, adding that she would no longer engage with the publication because of what she described as its constant “bashing” of One Nation.

“[Lee Hanson] got the job on her own merits by someone who actually wanted to employ her, her abilities, her skills in HR, her abilities working for the Tasmanian university for eight years, and was head of a department down there. So, my daughter is very capable of doing it.”