Pauline Hanson speaks at CPAC Australia in Brisbane on Oct. 10, 2026. Adam Chiang/The Epoch Times
A member of famous Australian band, The Seekers, has taken aim at a major conservative-leaning conference featuring Pauline Hanson for using a classic song, saying no permission was granted.
Bruce Woodley said the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Brisbane featured “I Am Australian” without approval while the song’s co-author revealed Senator Hanson had previously faced legal action over its potential use.
I Am Australian was sung as part of CPAC’s opening ceremony in Brisbane on Oct. 10, after renditions of the national anthem and Waltzing Matilda.
The song—originally co-written by Woodley and the Bushwackers’ Dobe Newton in 1987—was also advertised as part of the official conference program agenda.
Woodley and Newton criticised CPAC organisers, saying the iconic song about unity was at odds with the immigration views expressed at the conference.
“No permission was either sought or given by me for the use of my song,” Woodley told AAP on Oct. 12.
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The song’s theme is encapsulated in its line: “We are one, but we are many, and from all the lands of earth we come.”
After the song’s performance, speakers including Senator Hanson and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor condemned mass immigration.
“I would absolutely never endorse the use of the song associated with those purposes,” Newton said.
He said when Senator Hanson tried to use the song in a previous election campaign, he and Woodley threatened her with legal action.
“We said to each other, ‘What planet is she on?’” Newton said.
“Bruce and I got a friend of ours to write a furious solicitor’s letter threatening to sue her, and she actually changed her mind.”
He said that during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum, both the Yes and No campaigns approached he and Woodley to use the song.
Both were denied.
By Andrew Stafford in Brisbane.
