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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been forced to apologise after labelling Aboriginal Australians the "most primitive race on Earth".
Ms Hanson, who is ahead in some opinion polls, was forced to apologise after her comments were labelled as racist by politicians and Indigenous leaders.
She said that Aboriginal people had “achieved nothing” during the 60,000 years that they occupied Australia before the British settlement in the 18th century.
Ms Hanson originally made the remarks in an interview for a small podcast last year.
However, the comments have resurfaced as Ms Hanson was forced to defend the marks.
Ms Hanson said: “If I’ve offended people by using that, yes, I will apologise for that.
“I’ve always advocated, we are Australians all together and should be all treated equally on a needs basis, not about race. And until we actually do that, we’re not going to move over what’s happened in the past.”
She continued to say she had “put her foot in her mouth” and that her comments were aimed at the Aboriginals of the past when the British settled, not the present.
Pauline Hanson has been forced to apologise for what has been branded as 'racist ' comments
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“If we go back at the time of settlement in Australia, they were primitive compared to what the settlers that came out here from England, that type of thing. But I’m not talking those terms now. It’s not about now,” Ms Hanson said.
“I regret saying that because I don’t want to upset people. That’s not my intention. That wasn’t my intention to hurt people.”
In the interview, in September last year, on the Jamie J podcast, she said: “What the hell have they done in this country? You know, supposedly 60,000 years, they’d never invented the wheel. There was nothing there. What are we actually holding up? A few, you know, rock paintings.
“Sorry, they’re the most primitive race on Earth, and we’re supposed to be holding them up and saying what they’ve achieved. They’ve achieved nothing.”
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She has also apologised for comments made about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's mother
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Malarndirri McCarthy, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, slammed the remarks, calling them “derogatory” and “completely racist".
Thomas Mayo, an Aboriginal author and human rights activist, highlighted the ignorance of the comments.
He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “Many Australians have learnt that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples built sophisticated systems of law, governance, culture, trade, and land management over tens of thousands of years.”
“We have survived invasion, dispossession and every attempt to erase us. We are still here and will always remain in the rich tapestry of Australian identity.”
Ms Hanson also apologised for comments made about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s mother.
She made comments about his late mother’s housing situation, as she lived in a council house for decades.
Ms Hanson told reporters: “I don’t think my comments were derogatory towards his mother at all. If he’s taken offence to it, well, I’m sorry for that.”
Mr Albanese called the comments “mean and nasty", saying: “If Pauline Hanson wants to criticise me, then that’s fine, but my mother was way out of Pauline Hanson’s league, way out of it.”