One Nation leader Pauline Hanson hits back on Robert Irwin’s defamation threat over Please Explain cartoon

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has hit back after receiving a legal threat from Robert Irwin over the latest episode of her Please Explain cartoon, telling him to “lighten up”. NewsWire has confirmed a cease and desist letter sent late on Friday night by FC Lawyers, acting on behalf of the son of iconic wildlife legend Steve Irwin, was sent to StepMates Studios, the production team behind Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain cartoon series. Mr Irwin, 20, says he was mocked in the latest episode of the online series, which depicts himself and cartoon icon Bluey promoting a new tourism campaign for Queensland. In the letter, lawyer Zoe Naylor claims the cartoon is defamatory and involves the “unauthorised and deceptive use of our client’s image”. She demands cartoon be removed and the studio behind the cartoon immediately stop using Mr Irwin’s image without prior approval. “You are potentially liable to our client in respect of defamation, deceptive use of a person’s image, passing off and misleading and deceptive conduct,” the letter states. “We will commence legal action against you if you do not take down the video immediately.” Speaking with the Sunday Mail, Ms Hanson suggested Irwin’s father would not have responded in the same way. “Lighten up Robert, your father, Steve, he was a larrikin, he had a laugh, he could take the mickey out of himself and you’re complaining about this,” she said. Ms Hanson told the Sunday Mail the video was “not about (Robert)”, but about issues in Queensland, and suggested others would have been grateful to be included in the clip. “I’ve got members of parliament asking me when they get to be in the cartoon, we have people pay to get in it, so I’ve given him a free kick,” Ms Hanson said. “And he wants to sue me over it.” The episode featuring Mr Irwin mocks Queensland’s issues with housing, youth crime and health care as the satirically-depicted Mr Irwin attempts to show Bluey the best of the state. At one point the pair mistake a long queue for a rental property for a line at Movie World. Bluey is also “bashed” by juvenile delinquents while Mr Irwin is told there is a six-month wait for hospital care. It ends with Mr Irwin saying: “I can’t believe this is the state of Queensland”. The legal letter claims the cartoon tarnished Mr Irwin’s reputation but also misled the public, causing “significant harm to our client’s brand and image”. “We are concerned that the unlawful use of our client’s image may be an attempt to pass off yourself or party as currently being affiliated or otherwise authorised by us, which you are not,” it continues. “This unlawful use has the potential to mislead or deceive consumers into believing that you have. “The use of our client’s image and name on the video is capable of leading not an insignificant number of reasonable and/or ordinary people into erroneously believing that the Pauline Hanson is associated with Robert.” StepMates Studios has been given until 5pm Monday to remove the video before Mr Irwin’s lawyers potentially take further action through the District and Federal Courts. One Nation chief of staff James Ashby told NewsWire they disputed the letter and would respond through their lawyers. It is understood leading defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC has been consulted by the party.