The Australian Federal Police has closed its investigation into One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, finding her February comments about Muslims didn't meet the threshold for any criminal offence, including under Labor's new hate speech laws.

An AFP spokeswoman confirmed to News24 that the matter has been finalised after the agency received several complaints earlier this year.

"In February 2026, the AFP received several complaints about public comments made by a Federal Parliamentarian. The AFP has determined the comments do not meet the threshold for relevant offences, including within the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026. The AFP has finalised this matter."

The decision ends more than five months of federal police attention on a sitting senator over words spoken in a television interview. As recently as May, the AFP confirmed the comments were still being assessed, three months after the complaints first arrived.

What Pauline Hanson said in February

The complaints followed a February News24 interview in which Senator Hanson questioned how she could be assured there were good Muslims, remarks she tied to her opposition to radical Islam.

"I've got no time for radical Islam. Their religion concerns me because what it says in the Qur'an, they hate Westerners and that's what it's all about. You say, oh well there's good Muslims out there. Well I'm sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?"

Media coverage claimed the senator had said there were no good Muslims, and the political backlash was immediate. Days later, she acknowledged there were good Muslims and offered an apology to those she'd offended, while restating her opposition to radical Islam and extremism.

"If there is a person out there who is a Muslim and does not support Sharia law, female circumcision, child marriages, who do … support our culture, our way of life and our laws, then I apologise to you if my comment has offended you," she told News24.

"If I've offended people on what my beliefs are, and they're a Muslim, then I do apologise to those people."

Anthony Albanese called the comments disgraceful. His hate speech law found no offence

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the comments at the time as "disgraceful" and "aimed at just dividing people". Asked whether they could fall foul of the hate speech laws his own government passed, he wouldn't say.

"I'm not a lawyer, nor am I in charge of fulfilling those laws, I'll allow the appropriate authorities to engage," Mr Albanese said in February.

"There's a separation here. Politicians, we're responsible for putting laws in place. It's important that the authorities, who I have confidence in, be allowed to do their job."

The authorities have now done their job. The AFP assessed the remarks against the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act, the centrepiece of Labor's hate speech agenda, and found nothing to prosecute.

Penny Wong's censure motion came before the police had answered

The Senate didn't wait for the AFP. Foreign Minister Penny Wong moved a censure motion against Senator Hanson in February, and it passed, formally condemning her for "inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians".

That political verdict was delivered while the legal question was still open. Five months on, the legal answer is in: no offence. The censure stays on the Senate record either way, because a censure motion is a political statement, not a legal finding, and it carries no penalty.

The Mehreen Faruqi case is a separate fight, and it's heading to the High Court

The AFP decision landed in the same week Senator Hanson lost her Federal Court appeal in the civil case brought by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi over a 2022 social media post telling her to "piss off back to Pakistan".

Justice Melissa Perry upheld the original 2024 finding that the post breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. That's a civil provision, not a criminal one, and it sits in a different law to the one the AFP assessed.

Senator Hanson said she was "disappointed" by the ruling and intends to take it further.

"My legal team and I will now closely review the decision in the coming days, with a view to commencing an appeal in the High Court of Australia," she said.

The criminal file is closed. The 18C judgment stands unless the High Court agrees to hear her, and the senator who was censured in February ends July cleared of any crime.