Pauline Hanson is embroiled in a battle on two fronts: she is unemployed and is facing a lawsuit from a former acquaintance.
The One Nation leader, on the other hand, wasn’t letting the pressures of the job stop her from making a dramatic fashion statement in a striking red overcoat.
Senator Hanson appeared in Sydney’s Federal Court on Thursday to defend a crucial witness in her defamation action against former colleague Brian Burston.
She paired the vivid coat with a silver peacock brooch, a black dress, and black and white patterned shoes, as well as matching lipstick and handbag.
Her first public appearance since contracting Covid last month was also at the court entrance, much to the delight of her fans.
When announcing her Covid diagnosis she taunted opponents who may have hoped that, being unvaccinated, she didn’t survive the deadly disease.
‘I thank all of those people who have sent their well wishes, and I look forward to disappointing all of those who hope that I drop dead,’ she said.
Senator Hanson is facing unemployment next month following a close Senate election that could see her lose her seat on July 1.
The conservative firebrand failed to secure a quota in her own right and will have to rely on preferences to scrape together enough votes to stay in parliament.
Counting is still going on and it will be some time before the result is clear.
Mr Burston was leader of One Nation in NSW in 2000 to 2018 and elected as a senator in 2016.
However, he fell out with Senator Hanson over corproate tax cuts policy and defected to Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party on June 18, 2018.
He claims Ms Hanson accused him of sexual harassment on social media, via a text message to his wife, Rosalyn Burston, and during a television interview.
Terri-lea Vairy said her former boss, Mr Burston, regularly degraded, humiliated, and disgusted her with sexual harassment including shoving money down her breasts.
The 74-year-old denies all allegations as entirely fabricated.
Ms Vairy, 47, said she was originally employed by Rosalyn Burston as a cleaner at their home before Mr Burston offered her a job as an electorate officer, with an ‘astronomical’ pay rise.
Mr Burston would allegedly go on to confess his love her for, saying it began when he first saw her ‘walking down his driveway’.
She said the alleged sexual harassment began soon after she was hired in May 2017 with comments such as: ‘Nice to have a good looking sheila in the office.’
Mr Vairy said she felt ‘degraded, very hurt, and concerned’.
The comments escalated to greetings and goodbyes with kissing on the lips, and he tried to ‘passionately kiss me’ following a function in Canberra in February 2018, she said.
‘I slapped him on the back and told him to settle down.’
In one alleged incident, she said he told her that she had ‘perfect sized-breasts’, and asked if they were implants, while on another he gave her a birthday card and $100 note.
‘I tried to give it back… he then, forcefully shoved it between my breasts … I was in shock,’ Ms Vairy said.
Mr Burston would regularly take her out to lunch, comment on her ‘sexy’ appearance and touch her clothes, before her daughter was employed and tried to accompany them everywhere, she said.
‘I told her… to never leave me alone with him.’
Ms Vairy said she became increasingly concerned about other staff members thinking there might be something going on.
‘Did you ever ask him to stop?’ Ms Hanson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, asked.
‘Yes, I told him it was making me uncomfortable,’ Ms Vary said.
But he didn’t stop, she said, saying she turned around one day to see him ‘biting and licking his bottom lip… and staring at my bottom’.
Out at a concert one night, she and her co-worker Wendy Leach were being ‘harassed’ by Mr Burston for photos of Ms Vairy, threatening to fire them if they refused, she said.
Ms Leach was soon fired after telling Mr Burston ‘enough is enough’ with his infatuation, Ms Vairy said.
But the alleged humiliation that brought Ms Vairy to tears in court was after her romance with former senator Peter Georgiou was leaked to the media.
‘Was (the article) placed somewhere shortly after that?’ Ms Chrysanthou said.
‘Yes, on the office window in Canberra,’ Ms Vairy said.
She said Mr Burston put the article on the window, but didn’t quit as she ‘needed the money’ and didn’t lodge a complaint with HR.
‘It was known that if you do he gets notified straight away,’ Ms Vairy said.
Rosalyn Burston earlier testified that allegations her husband sexually harassed two women were false.