Hanson Releases Seven Pitch Revealing Spotlight’s ‘Uncontrolled Immigration’ Focus

A Seven Network producer urged Pauline Hanson to travel to Britain to meet Nigel Farage for a Spotlight special focused on so-called “uncontrolled immigration,” according to a pitch the One Nation leader posted to social media.

The pitch also indicated Seven might cover travel costs for Hanson and her team, and proposed that the Reform UK leader extend the invitation.

The current affairs program strongly endorsed an anti-immigration stance, asserting it had the facts to support what it called “the backbone of our story,” using the phrase “uncontrolled immigration” seven times.

Senior producer Luke Mortimer wrote that the program would “illustrate the strain uncontrolled immigration is placing on our infrastructure” and show what Australia allegedly faces “if we don’t take back control of who comes to our country.”

“Voters in Britain are seeing pictures of boatloads of migrants, often young men from the Middle East and Africa, crossing the Channel, and they’re seeing their seaside towns turned into camps for people who claim refugee status,” Mortimer said in the pitch Hanson shared on Facebook Monday.

The revelation marks the latest flashpoint between Hanson and Spotlight following the special’s Sunday broadcast, and another instance of One Nation attempting to clarify aspects of her recent European trip.

Hanson’s Facebook post followed a Sky News interview Monday where One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce alleged Seven had pushed for Hanson to appear on Tommy Robinson’s podcast, echoing a claim by Hanson’s chief of staff, James Ashby, last week. “I get the inference that it was a suggestion by Spotlight more than a suggestion by Pauline,” Joyce claimed.

A Seven spokesperson told Guardian Australia last week the network had been granted rare access to Hanson abroad and had covered some production costs, but did not confirm organizing the meeting.

Despite the producer’s sympathetic tone, reporter Liam Bartlett grilled Hanson on why she met Robinson, who has violent criminal convictions and is considered too extreme for Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party.

In the post, Hanson asked followers whether “last night’s show reflects their pitch?”

Bartlett told viewers Hanson was scheduled to meet Farage, but the meeting fell through after he resigned from the UK parliament and called a by-election amid financial scrutiny.

Seven confirmed the document was a Spotlight pitch but distanced itself from the leaked email, describing it as one of hundreds of communications exchanged with Hanson’s team before the broadcast.

In the email, Mortimer appears to imply the program would fund Hanson’s UK travel. “We can discuss travel arrangements,” Mortimer wrote.

Seven has denied paying for Hanson’s travel.

“There have been extensive, if not hundreds of emails, phone calls and messages over more than six months to organise this Spotlight special, with many developments in the news cycle leading to what was broadcast last night,” a Seven spokesperson said Monday.

“Spotlight is proud to have produced a balanced piece of journalism which fairly quizzed Senator Hanson but also allowed her views to be explored and heard in a high-rating special, and we thank Senator Hanson for her candid access.”

The email from Mortimer echoes One Nation and anti-immigration talking points, claiming many Australians are unhappy with current immigration levels.

“Many Australians would be shocked to know our figures are already further down the line – 38.1% of Greater Sydney was born overseas,” he said. “Council areas such as Strathfield have a population of almost 60% born overseas.”

The program proposed taking Farage and Hanson to the UK seaside town of Bournemouth, which it claimed “has seen a surge of more than 50% in foreign-born residents, thousands of whom are being housed in hotels at taxpayers’ expense.”

Instead, the program filmed Hanson and Robinson walking through Luton, 50km north of London, an area with a significant Muslim population.

“I hate seeing the burqa,” Hanson said on camera.

“These women covered up, I can’t stand it … I don’t want this happening in Australia.”

Bartlett also asked Hanson about the “concept of mass deportation.”

“Oh, I love it,” she said, though she clarified she was targeting “the ones who are here illegally in the country.”

Asked about Hanson’s comments on Muslims Monday night, Joyce acknowledged Robinson had done “some things” that were “basically against the law,” but insisted Hanson was not “condoning of every action of Tommy Robinson. I don’t think that was ever said.”

Hanson and her colleagues have spent days explaining or walking back headline-grabbing moments from her European trip, including the Robinson interview, her comments on the White Australia policy, her attendance at a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show, and downtime by a hotel pool in Italy with mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

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