Pauline Hanson has named her daughter, Lee Hanson, as a potential successor to lead One Nation, despite suggestions Barnaby Joyce is ‘right there’. 

Lee Hanson, 42, joined the party as an adviser after an unsuccessful run for the Senate during last year’s federal election. 

Barnaby Joyce, who defected from the National Party late last year, has long been regarded as the most likely successor to Pauline Hanson as the leader of One Nation. 

But during an appearance on the podcast of controversial British right-wing figure Tommy Robinson, she suggested her daughter could be in the running. 

‘She’s got the potential, but I don’t believe in nepotism,’ Hanson said during the interview, which was recorded in the UK last week.

‘And she has to prove herself – not only to me, but also to the other members and to the public, and everything like that.’

During the discussion with Robinson, the 72-year-old party leader praised her daughter.

‘She’s a cluey kid. She’s quite smart and highly respected. In the positions that she’s held, wherever she’s worked, they didn’t want to lose her,’ she said.

Pauline Hanson (R) dubbed her daughter Lee Hanson (L) as a possible leader of One Nation

Pauline Hanson appeared on Tommy Robinson’s podcast

‘She took a cut in wages to come across. She said: ‘I know that if I don’t stand up … I’m frightened of where the country’s going’.

‘It’s great to work with her. She’s the future. She’s got the softer approach.’

Hanson has previously been coy about who will take the helm of One Nation in the future, including during a wide-ranging interview with Daily Mail’s Australian Political Editor Peter van Onselen.

‘I can assure you they won’t be carrying me out of Parliament in a box,’ she said.

‘It’s important that I get the right people in place to go forward with One Nation before I call it a day… I believe in merit, and that will guide One Nation’s choices for its future leaders more than anything else.’

van Onselen said leadership succession remains the ‘unresolved problem for One Nation’ because ‘Hanson is its greatest asset and its greatest limitation’.

‘Her name is the brand. Her story is the movement’s emotional engine. Her sense of grievance, resilience and bluntness can’t be manufactured by party headquarters or handed to a successor in a briefing folder,’ he said.

‘But if One Nation is to become a permanent feature of Australian politics, rather than a Hanson vehicle, it needs to survive beyond Hanson herself.’

Pauline Hanson (above) was spotted at a luxury hotel on the Italian island of Sicily 

In a move that has surprised many, Hanson attended Dolce & Gabbana’s lavish Alta Moda showcase in Taormina on Tuesday 

But Lee Hanson is not the only name being touted, with Nationals MP Llew O’Brien, a friend of Barnaby Joyce, naming him a future leader for One Nation this week.

‘If Pauline is looking for someone, she has someone right in front of her face,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

But on Friday, Joyce said he doesn’t have an issue with the idea that Lee Hanson might succeed her mother.  

‘Lee’s a good lady and she’s a mate of mine and I’ve got no problems with this,’ he told Nine News’ Today program. 

‘You want the very best to lead your party to make sure you’ve got the best opportunity to get ahead.

‘Everything that Pauline said there is factually correct. You’ve got to be supported by your colleagues, you’ve got to be supported by the Australian people and if you can tick those two boxes, yeah, you should be the leader.’

Joyce also defended Hanson’s trip to the same luxurious Italian hotel in Taormina, Sicily, as mining magnate Gina Rinehart, sparking questions about how the politician funded the holiday.

‘It’s a holiday, isn’t it? I mean, I don’t care if it’s Dolce Gabbana or Prada, as long as you’re paying for it, darling, I don’t care,’ he said.

‘A person’s allowed to have free time and she’s having free time over there.

‘If you’re friends with them, what’s the problem? I’m mates with people… do we have a sort of a list of people that we can be mates with and list we can’t?’

In a move that has surprised many, the One Nation leader also attended Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda showcase in Taormina on Tuesday. 

She joined an elite guest list featuring Ms Rinehart, Jennifer Lopez, Monica Bellucci, The White Lotus star Theo James and Norwegian football star Erling Haaland. 

Italy is the latest stop in Hanson’s European trip, during which she has been working while visiting the UK.