One Nation Fires Staffer After Backlash

0:00It's April 13th. You're listening to Sydney News today, AI-powered local news. One nation had to fire a staffer named Sean Black from their Brisbane headquarters after backlash over his past. He went to jail back in 2018 for raping and assaulting a woman, but the party rehired him recently, thinking he'd served his time and deserved a fresh start. Pauline Hanson, the party leader, pulled the trigger on Sunday, saying she shot him down right there in front of his family. He made it clear she doesn't excuse what he did, but stressed he'd done his sentence and was trying to move on. The move came after the coalition called him out hard. Barnaby Joyce jumped in on Monday, calling the whole thing a political smear to knock one nation down. He argued, everyone deserves redemption after jail time, and pointed out other political folks with serious records who get a pass without all the... Drama. Joyce said opposition figures like James Patterson flip the script on law and order talk just

1:00to hit them. Hanson fired back, accusing the coalition of dirty gutter tactics because they're scared of one nation's rise in the polls. Now the spot's untenable, thanks to all the media noise, and Joyce says is handled, even if he'd rather give second chances a real shot in politics.