Wayne Swan, the president of the Australian Labor Party, criticized Pauline Hanson's policies during a speech to the Labor national executive on a Friday. Swan, a former treasurer, stated that Hanson plans to shut down SBS, move the ABC to a subscription model, and push for Australia to be a monoculture. He also said Hanson has claimed wage rises had gone too far, that it is too hard for an employer to dismiss an employee, and that the gender pay gap is not real.

Swan warned against complacency. "A toxic seed blooms into a garden of noxious weeds when we stop gardening," he said. "People shrug. It gets normalised. Then it gets implemented. Then it just exists." Swan added: "Now we can see the true nature of the threat we all face and we will not let it become the new normal. We will not shrug our shoulders."

NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns addressed Hanson's statements while speaking to ABC radio on Friday. Minns referenced Hanson's recent comments regarding sharia law, multiple marriages, and gangs with machetes. "I saw her on radio the other day saying 'we don't want sharia law, we don't want multiple marriages, we don't want gangs with machetes', as if, if you support multiculturalism, you must be for sharia law," Minns said. He described the claims as unfounded. "That's complete garbage. It's the sort of bullshit she's been peddling for some time and it's just not true," Minns said.

Recent polling indicates One Nation, Hanson's party, is ahead of both Labor and the Coalition in primary votes. Some polling shows Pauline Hanson leading as the preferred prime minister. Hanson recently confronted journalists in Canberra who sought explanations for her statements. Kate Ellis is scheduled to succeed Swan as ALP president in July; Ellis previously served as a minister in the Gillard government.

Labor Party membership was approximately 51,500 in 2024, a decrease from almost 57,000 in 2022. The party has an objective to reach 65,000 members by 2029.