The creator of Pauline Hanson's divisive "Please Explain" cartoons has refused to apologise to Senator Jacqui Lambie after One Nation published a widely condemned video that mocked her medical condition.
Mark Nicholson is the co-founder of Stepmates Studios, a creative agency that creates political content for One Nation. He is also running for a seat in Victoria's upper house for the party.
"We're just trying to do the best thing for the country and for satire," Mr Nicholson told 7.30.
The most recent episode made light of Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie's vaginal prolapse, a health condition she revealed during a speech in the Senate in August.
The episode, which featured a cartoon Lambie saying 'I cant laugh because of my prolapsed vagina' triggered widespread outrage.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson initially defended the cartoon, before admitting she hadn't seen the video and later apologising that it "wasn't as tastefully done as it could've been".
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson initially defended the cartoon that mocked Senator Lambie's condition. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Senator Lambie also revealed to 7.30 that Senator Hanson has not offered her a personal apology for the cartoon.
Asked about the episode, Mr Nicholson told 7.30 it's his job "to pick on people who are in the public realm".
"People who are powerful need to get a reality check,"
he said.
"If you're in the public realm, you open yourself up to praise, but you also open yourself up to parody.
"That's the price you pay."
He denied he had trivialised Senator Lambie's medical condition: "I don't think we trivialised the, the medical condition at all, in many ways, I actually think we've drawn quite a lot of attention to it," he said.
Mark Nicholson is running for One Nation in Victoria's Upper House. (ABC News: Andrew Altree-Williams)
The cartoon has since been taken down, but when asked if he would like to apologise to Senator Lambie, Mr Nicholson refused the opportunity.
"Not right now. If I ever do something that is apology-worthy, I'll apologise," he said.
Senator Lambie was in disbelief when she heard Mr Nicholson's comments, and believes he is not fit for Victorian parliament.
"I don't think there would be any point in saying anything to Mark Nicholson because he doesn’t have the mature ability to be running in politics," Senator Lambie told 7.30.
"And he may want get his mind out of the gutter, because quite frankly, what he's doing is just disgraceful.
"And if he can't see that ... he's another one that is not fit for purpose to be in politics, let alone running for it to begin with."
After the alleged attack on federal independent MP Helen Haines, Senator Lambie was scathing of One Nation for "heightening the temperature" with its controversial online political content despite politicians calling for calm.
Senator Jacqui Lambie is disgusted by One Nation's animated videos. (ABC News: Mitchell Woolnough)
"They're a low blow, they're divisive, and they're bloody awful. They're just causing division out there within the community, and that's the truth in those cartoons," Senator Lambie told 7.30 before launching into Mr Nicholson.
"Wow. It's his job because he's running, is to pick on everybody else in the public realm.
"That's a man that should not be in parliament. That is a man who is behind that cartoon and doesn't understand a damn thing about women's problems."
Senator Lambie also questioned Senator Hanson's leadership credentials for not vetting the cartoon that mocked her medical condition.
"Pauline Hanson hasn't emailed, messaged, even sent me a nice little card and said, 'I'm really sorry for doing that'," she told 7.30.
"To say that she doesn't even see the cartoon, I have to ask what sort of leader she is … you don't know what is going on within your party, and they're out there with your name all over them.
"I would be ashamed of myself, quite frankly."
Inside the studio behind the cartoons
It takes a team of 25 people to create the 'Please Explain' cartoons with Stepmates' Studios, at its head office in Melbourne.
When 7.30 gained rare access to the office last week, only Mr Nicholson and his co-founder Seb Peart wanted to be on camera.
Stepmates Studios is based in inner-city Melbourne. (ABC News: Andrew Altree-Williams)
Mr Nicholson said that other tenants in the offices around his building are not fans of his work, so much so that some remonstrated when they heard the Lambie episode being made.
"This floor is not soundproof, and we've got neighbours downstairs who are very progressive, and, they had to come up the other day and confront us," he said.
"They came up and they're like, 'what the hell's going on here?' and then we told them 'oh, we make the Pauline Hanson cartoon'."
Mr Nicholson and Mr Peart are also the creators of One Nation's latest political advertisement targeting the Victorian election, which cost under $1,000 to make by using Chinese AI software Seedance.
The AI-generated video features a fake family with piercings and colourfully-dyed hair, who admit they are secretly One Nation supporters, before cutting to a scene of a black man holding a machete saying, 'I shouldn't be out on bail'.
"It's referring to the epidemic of crime, of recidivist crime from people who are currently on bail. You go out and talk to many Victorians right now, and I have, they are so deeply concerned. They're afraid to leave their house. Crime is legitimately out of control," Mr Nicholson said.
Stepmates Studios created an AI-generated One Nation election campaign advertisement. (ABC News: Andrew Altree-Williams)
Asked why the only black person in the advertisement is a person holding a machete, Mr Nicholson claimed it was to be "inclusive".
"We had a lot of people to get through in this one. I think it's like, people are saying the ad's racist. It's quite inclusive," he said.
"Everyone gets a run in there. I think it might be one of the most inclusive ads on television at the moment."
He said critics were taking the ad "way too seriously".
"We're playing on a stereotype and using it in an ad. That's, it, it's not an attack on them."
In another AI-generated scene, a man takes off a suicide bomb vest and says "I shouldn't have been allowed into the country".
"He's a Middle Eastern man, a generic Middle Eastern man, because that's the stereotype, and … again, that's the truth," Mr Nicholson said.
He denied that the advertisement was describing all Middle Eastern people as potential terrorists.
"We didn't. This is where it's being lost in translation and that's not true at all. We're creating a new world. These are not real people. These are characters and characters need caricatures and caricatures come from stereotype," he said.
A neon sign referencing the animated One Nation cartoon inside the recording booth. (ABC News: Andrew Altree-Williams)
Lucas Whittaker from Swinburne University is currently working on a three-year research project into how AI-generated content is perceived by the public.
He finds the One Nation advertisement to be concerning.
"A lot of the, the communications they tend to put out as a party, it's quite distasteful," he told 7.30.
"I believe the use of AI to let's say misrepresent but also stereotype ... these fears that some people may have about migrants or certain communities [is] very worrying."
Senator Lambie said the depictions of minority groups in the advertisement were "disgusting" and showed Senator Hanson was not "fit for purpose" and should "move herself away from politics".
"Enough is enough. This is not the Australia I know, and this is not the Australia I want see in the future."
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