Walter Zagorski Describes Early Marriage to Pauline Hanson

Walter Zagorski, a postwar Polish immigrant, has spoken publicly for the first time about his marriage to Pauline Hanson, the leader of the One Nation party. The couple married in the Queensland town of Blackall in 1970 when Hanson was 16 and pregnant with their first child.

Zagorski met Hanson while both worked at Drug Houses of Australia in Brisbane. He drove her to and from work, and the relationship developed from there. They lived first in Blackall, then Adelaide, and later returned to south-east Queensland. Their son Tony was born in June 1971.

Zagorski said the marriage was unhappy and claimed he was not the father of their second child, Steven. Hanson rejected that claim in her 2012 autobiography.

Zagorski said Hanson’s parents influenced her views on money and work. He described her father working long hours at a cafe in Woolloongabba and said Hanson learned to be “dishonest and sneaky and greedy” from him. He also said Hanson entered politics because she believed it would be easy and would bring more money.

Zagorski added that he would not vote for her and compared Australian politics to events in the United States.

In a June 11 speech in Perth, Hanson described sneaking away as a teenager to see Zagorski while he worked in the oilfields. She said the couple married after becoming stranded by floodwaters in Charleville and that she had two children by age 21. Hanson’s office declined to comment on Zagorski’s statements.

She has previously said he abandoned her and the children for long periods. Zagorski, now living alone in the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum, said he has not heard from Hanson in many years. He recalled that she once visited his home to see his mother but has had no further contact.