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MELBOURNE, March 16, 2009 (AFP) - Far-right Australian politician Pauline Hanson said Monday she was suing newspapers that published raunchy photos supposedly showing her partially nude, saying the pictures were not of her.
Hanson, who sparked international outrage with a campaign against Asian immigration in the 1990s, is attempting a political comeback in an election in northeastern Queensland state next weekend.
News Limited newspapers said on Sunday that the pictures were taken by an ex-boyfriend, Jack Johnson, in the 1970s when Hanson was about 19.
But Hanson said she had never heard of Johnson and the publication of the photographs had distressed her family.
"Let me say, the photographs are not of me," Hanson told national news agency AAP.
"I have started legal proceedings - I am fighting this and I have had enough. This always happens right on election time and it is terribly embarrassing.
"When I was out campaigning yesterday, my children, my daughter, rang up distressed and crying. My kids have gone through hell over the years and I have been put through hell myself."
Hanson said she would continue to campaign for the Gold Coast hinterland seat of Beaudesert in the March 21 Queensland state election.
"I truly believe that this is another attempt to keep me away from the floor of the parliament, to be your voice and your representative," she said.
"By God, I'm going to get there."
The former fish and chip shop owner was elected to the lower house of the federal parliament in 1996 and in her maiden speech warned that Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians.
Hanson's racial views drew international criticism but her One Nation party briefly enjoyed strong support in Australia on issues such as immigration and trade protectionism before she lost her seat in 1998.
She was briefly jailed in 2003 for fraudulently spending electoral funds before the judgement was overturned.
In 2007 she ran for a seat in the federal senate and switched her target from Asians to Islam, calling for an end to immigration by Muslims to protect "Australian culture."
Hanson also complained that African immigrants spread disease. But she was soundly defeated in the election, which she contested on behalf of Pauline's United Australia Party.
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