Senator Pauline Hanson has described domestic violence as "wrong" but a "two-way street" during an appearance on Brisbane radio station 4BC, drawing immediate condemnation from advocates and public figures including Brittany Higgins.

Speaking on the 4BC Mornings program hosted by Gary Hardgrave, Hanson said: "It is wrong but it's also a two-way street. I'm not saying that it's just men, women can lose their cool as well." She also told listeners that women being abused "shouldn't put up with it" and "if these women are getting abused by men out there, then don't put up with it" (The Guardian).

Hanson disclosed during the same interview that she had been in an abusive second marriage and subsequently raised four children as a single mother, briefly relying on welfare payments (4BC Facebook).

Brittany Higgins, now executive director of the Vida Fund, responded on social media. She wrote: "'Mutual abuse', 'two way street', 'just leave' — normalising this victim blaming rhetoric in relation to domestic violence when 38 Australian women have already been lost to femicide is atrocious" (The Guardian).

Tarang Chawla, whose sister Nikita was murdered by her partner in 2015, called Hanson's remarks "terrible advice." The Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre went further, branding the comments "vile and shameful," with chief executive Nicole Yade saying they reflected a "victim-blaming narrative" (The Guardian).

The backlash was covered across major outlets on July 22, 2026, including by The Guardian in its live news blog, the Sydney Morning Herald, The New Daily, and Mamamia (SMH; The New Daily; Mamamia; The Guardian Live Blog).

This is not Hanson's first foray into the domestic violence policy space. In 2019, she secured a Senate inquiry into the family court system, during which she claimed women were fabricating family violence complaints to retain custody of their children (The Guardian). The One Nation policy apparatus has maintained a consistent thematic line across state divisions. One Nation WA's issues page lists "Domestic Violence" alongside gender ideology, migration and water as key policy areas, and hosts a page titled "Domestic Violence — Time to Heal" asserting that "the vast majority of men abhor domestic violence" (One Nation WA). The Victorian division has published content under the heading "Why Male Victims of Domestic Violence Need Recognition and Support" (One Nation VIC). The national website, in a January 2026 article opposing Labor's hate speech laws, referenced domestic violence courts and the claim that "no evidence is needed to prove someone is in fear" (One Nation). In Queensland, One Nation candidate for Bundamba Kelvin Brown lists domestic violence and youth crime among his stated policy focuses (One Nation QLD).

The remarks Hanson made on 4BC rest on three ideas: that abuse goes both ways, that men and women are equally responsible, and that women in danger should simply walk out the door. Frontline services and researchers have spent years trying to dismantle each of these. The "two-way street" framing ignores the statistics: domestic violence deaths are overwhelmingly committed by men against women. The "just leave" advice ignores something experts have documented for years, which is that the period right after a woman leaves a violent partner is often when she is in the most danger.

Hanson's disclosure of her own abusive marriage adds another layer. It is the kind of personal story that lends weight to a politician's stance — proof she has lived it. But advocates like Yade and Chawla argue that personal experience does not give anyone a pass to spread ideas that, in their view, make it harder to keep women alive.

The pattern is what stands out for those watching the Senate crossbench. Hanson's 2019 family court inquiry ran on the same logic: that the system is being gamed by women making false claims, and that men are being unfairly pushed aside. The 4BC remarks sit squarely in that tradition. They are not a slip of the tongue. They are a long-held, consistent position, delivered on friendly radio, landing in a news cycle where the number of women killed by violence is already a live political issue.