PAULINE Hanson's political comeback has been derailed with the emergence of nude photographs taken 30 years ago by a boyfriend she met in a Brisbane shop.
The photographs were taken in the mid-1970s and show Hanson, who was roughly 19 at the time, posing seductively in various states of undress.
It is 12 years since the One Nation leader entered federal Parliament and polarised the country with her views on Aborigines and Asians.
The boyfriend who took the shots is a former army commando now living in Sydney on a supplementary disability pension and struggling to repay debts incurred from bone cancer treatment.
Jack Johnson, 52, spent 18 years in the army and met the young Hanson when she worked in a Brisbane grocery shop.
He claims that four years ago he attempted to give the images back to Hanson when she gave a speech in the Queensland town of Stanthorpe, but her staff prevented him speaking to her.
A message he left for her to contact him went unanswered. The photographs were taken on a weekend away at a Coffs Harbour resort between 1975 and 1977.
A friend of Pauline Hanson's last night said he could not speak for her but described the release of the photographs as a low act.
"What a nasty thing to do. It really makes you wonder.''
Based in Townsville at the time, Johnson said he was travelling from the army base at Oakey to Brisbane with mates when he stopped at the shop "and I started chatting up this young bird who was working there''.
After rebuffing his invitations several times, Hanson agreed to have a drinkwith the young soldier and the couplesoon began seeing each other on aregular basis.
"I had the best Harley in town,'' Johnson told
The Sunday Telegraph.
"That's why she was keen on me.
"I was invited to the opening of the Pelican Bay Resort, near Coffs Harbour, through circumstances.
"I phoned her and said did she want to go? I explained it was a five-star resort, with everything paid for, including drinks.
"She said sure and we took the Harley down there for the four-hour drive.
"We booked into the swankiest place I'd ever seen. We had a ball.''
The young couple partied at the resort's disco on the Friday night of their arrival and spent the next day relaxing.
Following dinner with other guests on the Saturday night, more dancing and a midnight swim in the ocean, the couple went back to their room where Johnson presented Hanson with a gift of lingerie.
The pair were drunk - Hanson on Passion Pop, Johnson on imported beer.
"I gave her the stockings and the teddy set, she tried on the sexy gear and started modelling for me, so I got out my camera. It was that innocent.
"After that we got a little bit more intimate and that sort of thing.''
The impromptu photo shoot lasted some two hours and at one point the couple took photos outside the room where they were seen by other guests.
The next morning at breakfast, another female guest said something unflattering about events of the night before and Hanson locked herself in their room until the couple departed after lunchtime.
Soon after the weekend away, Johnson was sent to Hawaii for air-assault training with his regiment.
When he came back five weeks later, Hanson was involved with another man and berated Johnson for not calling her.
The relationship ended.
Johnson admits he frequently took photos of his girlfriends, but had never shown the Hanson shots to anyone else.
A fortnight ago a friend was helping him digitise some of his images when they came across the shots.
The friend recognised Hanson and told Johnson the images were "worth money''.
He said he was happy to give them back to the politician - "but sorry it's come to this, sweetheart ... that's the way it is''.
Hanson was campaigning in Logan City south of Brisbane yesterday. Her campaign manager Bronwyn Boag said Hanson was too busy to come to the phone and they did not "care about photos''.
