GetUp has claimed credit for the protest banner that descended behind Pauline Hanson during her first ever address to the National Press Club. The activist group's chief executive issued a media statement that read, in full, "It was us". GetUp seems to think this counts as a win.
The polls, the donation pipeline and One Nation's last two electoral results disagree.
The banner deployed and released by someone mid speech from behind the senator. It read: "I voted against a tax break for low paid workers while I took a $100,000 pay rise." Hanson kept talking. Press club staff tore the banner down. The footage led every bulletin by lunchtime, and the public response on social media ran sharply in Hanson's favour. GetUp had spent its day handing the One Nation leader another news cycle, and the staff who signed off on it presumably went home to celebrate.
Five minutes of research would have saved them the trip
GetUp was campaigning against One Nation at the Farrer byelection earlier this year. One Nation won the seat anyway, electing the party's first ever lower house federal MP. South Australia delivered the same answer. One Nation won seven seats at the recent state election. Hanson has since overtaken Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister in the latest Resolve poll.
The pattern is so well established that Hanson called it out from the podium today.
They think they're hurting us, but all they're doing is pushing more Australians towards One Nation.
That sentence was true before the banner dropped, and it became truer after. Today's stunt is now the fourth recent test of their failed strategy. It has done the exact oppposite and worked in Hanson's favour every single time.
Video: Pauline Hanson addressing The Press Club in Canberra.
The banner was pre-installed the day before by two trespassers
The National Press Club has now confirmed what was always obvious. The banner was not rigged by a ticketed luncheon guest. It was installed the day before.
In a statement issued on 17 June 2026, the press club said:
"It appears that two persons entered the club building yesterday afternoon without permission and installed a separate drop-down screen in front of our media wall/ light box."
The press club has referred the relevant footage and other evidence to the AFP, and is considering its legal options, including recovering costs for damage to the media wall and light box once investigations are complete. The press club has formally apologised to Senator Hanson.
The press club has apologised to Senator Hanson for the incident.
David Sharaz, GetUp's Media and Campaigns Lead, is named in the press club's statement
The press club's statement also named David Sharaz, married to Brittany Higgins and is now GetUp's Media and Campaigns Lead.
"David Sharaz was seen filming the incident on his phone and, after the banner had lowered, left abruptly. We understand that this is likely to form part of the AFP investigation," the statement said.
The press club has confirmed Sharaz bought a ticket to what it described as a high security event.
Sharaz is a former SBS and 2CC Canberra journalist who joined GetUp in February in what The Guardian described as a senior role taking on the "democratic threat" of conservative groups. He confirmed the appointment on his own LinkedIn.
GetUp publicly claimed credit for the stunt earlier today via a single line media statement that read "It was us."
What the AFP investigation can actually pursue
The trespass and damage allegations the press club has referred to the Australian Federal Police rest on a straightforward set of facts that the press club has now confirmed in writing. Two people entered the building on 16 June without permission and installed a drop down screen. A third person triggered the banner remotely from inside the room during the address. The media wall and light box may have sustained damage that the press club is now looking to recover costs for.
Under ACT law, the two who entered the building without permission face potential trespass charges as a summary offence. If the installation of the rigging caused damage to the media wall or light box, criminal damage charges under the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) are also on the table.
The third person, who was a ticketed guest at the address, sits in a different category. Their lawful entry would have been conditional on the ticket terms. Activating a remote device to disrupt the speech may have exceeded the scope of that lawful entry, which can support disruption or accessory charges depending on the evidence the AFP gathers.
David Sharaz, who the press club has named as the GetUp representative present at the event, sits in a different category again. The press club's verbatim statement says only that Sharaz was seen filming the incident on his phone and left abruptly after the banner came down. He bought a ticket. Filming a public event you have a ticket to is not an offence. Leaving early is not an offence. The AFP is yet to interview him.
Whether Sharaz faces any charge depends entirely on what the AFP investigation produces in terms of evidence of coordination, planning, or knowledge of the breach before he entered the building. Nothing in the public record at the time of writing supports a criminal charge against him personally.
Beyond the criminal investigation, the press club has also flagged civil action. The statement says the club plans to "consider its legal options, including recovering costs for any damage to the media wall and light box, when investigations have been completed". GetUp has publicly claimed responsibility for the stunt, which is a factor in any civil cost recovery the press club may pursue.
A masterclass in how not to damage Pauline Hanson
If GetUp set out to make Pauline Hanson stronger and richer, this is the playbook. Spend big against her in a byelection she wins anyway. Sit back while her party takes seven seats in a state election after the campaigning. Watch her overtake the Prime Minister as preferred PM in the polls. Then lower a banner behind her at the press club, write a one line press release, and assume it landed.
By Wednesday evening, a few hours after the press club address, Hanson's Fire the Liar campaign had hit $4,559,691 from 73,330 Australian donors, against a $4,700,000 target. She is now within $140,309 of the goal she set herself, on a fund she referenced from the podium today while challenging Anthony Albanese to publish his own $27 fund.
GetUp's intervention did not slow the donation counter. It's accelerated it.
This isn't a one off. At Farrer, GetUp reportedly burned $600,000 and watched One Nation take the seat anyway. South Australia returned another seven seats to the party GetUp had been campaigning against. Today's banner is shaping as the next fundraising event for the woman it was supposed to embarrass.
Somewhere inside GetUp, a strategy team is being paid actual salary money to keep doing this. Donors, members and the board may want to ask whoever signed off on today's stunt a simple question. If the goal is to damage Pauline Hanson, why does she keep getting bigger every time GetUp shows up.
The kindest read of today is that GetUp's strategists genuinely believed the banner would land. The less kind read is that nobody at GetUp googled what happened the last three times they tried this. Either way, Hanson finished the day closer to her donation target than she started it, and GetUp paid for the privilege.
Hanson should be sending GetUp a thank you card.
GetUp may want to consider giving up for good.
