Pauline Hanson vows to teach patriotism in schools and expunge Welcome to Country for good

Pauline Hanson's One Nation used Thursday morning to put a formal, campaign-style pledge behind a policy it already flagged this week: patriotism taught in the classroom, and Welcome to Country gone from it. In a statement posted to X at 7.07am, the party's official account set out what it called the standard for every Australian school under a One Nation government.

"Under One Nation, our schools will promote patriotism and encourage young Aussies to love their country, its history and its heritage. We will not apologise for our history. We are one of the greatest countries on earth, and we will be proud of this. As it stands, there are too many examples of our history being denigrated by our woke educational establishment. Both the Welcome to Country and self-hatred will be expunged from our schools. One Nation will provide change you can trust."

Welcome to Country is a ceremony performed by a Traditional Owner to formally welcome visitors onto their traditional land. Acknowledgement of Country is the shorter, more common version, a statement anyone can read recognising Traditional Owners, and both have become standard openers at schools, government meetings, sporting fixtures and public events across Australia over the past two decades. One Nation has opposed both for years, arguing they've moved from occasional protocol to a routine that teaches Australian children to see their own country as something to apologise for.

Hanson already put this in her first 100 days

The statement sharpens a commitment Ms Hanson made directly to voters days earlier, when she took questions on her first 100 days in government and was asked whether a One Nation government would end Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies in daycares, kindergartens, primary schools and junior sport. She said she would.

"I wouldn't have a welcome to country on the bottom of their literature... I wouldn't be having it in educational system schools. I'd shut that all down."

Thursday's post goes further than that answer, attaching a positive curriculum promise, patriotism and pride taught in its place, rather than just a ban.

Hanson has been building this case since mid-2025

One Nation has been campaigning against the ceremony since at least the middle of 2025, when the party issued a statement calling it "divisive indoctrination" and demanded an end to it in parliament, schools, on flights and at sporting events. Ms Hanson has said she turns her back on the ceremony every sitting day in the Senate, and that she encouraged her own grandson to sit out the one at his school.

The 'woke educational establishment' line fits a pattern One News has been tracking

One Nation's post doesn't name a specific example of what it means by a "woke educational establishment", but the argument lands in a week when One News has reported on two cases that fit the description. Senator Malcolm Roberts pressed the government over a taxpayer-funded $532,718 research grant given to a University of Newcastle project developing space policy from Yolngu and Gumbaynggirr knowledge systems, while cost of living pressure leaves Australians, in his words, "living in tents, skipping meals, or struggling to pay rent". And Communications Minister Anika Wells called a taxpayer-funded ABC segment depicting the torture and killing of Gina Rinehart "unacceptable", then declined to demand an apology or take any action against the public broadcaster, citing editorial independence.

Neither story is about a school curriculum. But they're the same complaint in different buildings: taxpayer money running through a public institution, funded by every Australian regardless of how they vote, that One Nation says treats one side of the culture war as neutral and the other as something to be defunded or waved through without scrutiny. Hanson's answer, at least for schools, is to write the other side back in by policy.

It's not yet clear how the pledge would apply in the states and territories, where school curriculums are set locally rather than by Canberra, a detail Ms Hanson would need to work through in government. The commitment to strip Welcome to Country from government departments and literature as well as schools is federal ground she can move on directly.

Ms Hanson has also conceded that her becoming prime minister remains "a big if". What has changed is the scope of what she's promising. A year ago the argument was about a ceremony. Now One Nation is telling voters, in writing, that it would rewrite what Australian children are taught about their own country.