--- title: Australia: Scott Morrison Criticizes Far-Right One Nation description: One Nation members Steve Dickson and James Ashby said they were drunk when Al Jazeera secretly filmed them asking the NRA for money canonical: https://time.com/5559411/australia-drunk-one-nation-guns/ author: Amy Gunia article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-27T07:06:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:09:09.857Z article:section: World og:title: Scott Morrison Tells One Nation Being Drunk Is No Excuse og:description: Party members said they were drunk when they asked the U.S. gun lobby for money og:url: https://time.com/5559411/australia-drunk-one-nation-guns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt854f5133e3c44b55/6989475b7cdbac2203d5f427/scott-morrison-criticizes-one-nation.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: australia-scott-morrison-criticizes-one-nation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scott Morrison Tells One Nation Being Drunk Is No Excuse twitter:description: Party members said they were drunk when they asked the U.S. gun lobby for money twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt854f5133e3c44b55/6989475b7cdbac2203d5f427/scott-morrison-criticizes-one-nation.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Being Drunk Is No Excuse.' Australian Prime Minister Criticizes Far-Right Party Over Gun Lobby Recording by [Amy Gunia](/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Mar 27, 2019 7:06 AM CUT  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media at Parliament House in Canberra on Mar. 26, 2019. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media at Parliament House in Canberra on Mar. 26, 2019.Rod McGuirk—AP by [Amy Gunia](/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Mar 27, 2019 7:06 AM CUT Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison [criticized far-right One Nation](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/one-nation-gun-duo-claim-they-were-drunk/news-story/f8022e035024ebd8174115a7737b9ace "undefined") party members on Wednesday, a day after an undercover Al Jazeera documentary was released in which two party members were recorded asking American gun lobbyists for money. One Nation Leader Steve Dickson and party founder Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff, James Ashby, said they were “on the sauce” when they requested $20 million from the NRA, reports _The Australian_. “Being drunk is no excuse for trading away Australia’s gun laws to foreign bidders,” Morrison told reporters on Wednesday, according to _The Australian_. **Read More:** [_Australian Prime Minister Accuses Political Party of Asking U.S. Gun Lobby for Money_](http://time.com/5558670/australia-one-nation-party-us-gun-lobby-nra/ "undefined") The documentary, [_How to Sell a Massacre_](https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/howtosellamassacre/ "undefined")_,_ filmed Dickson saying the funding would allow his party to get the the government “by the balls,” reports _The Australian_. Al Jazeera reporter Rodger Muller posed as the head of a fake lobbying group called Guns Rights Australia and organized the One Nation meetings with the NRA, according to _The Australian_. “These are not parties of government, they are parties of grievance,” Morrison said, urging voters not to support One Nation. **Read More:** [_What it’s Like to Own Guns in a Country with Strict Gun Control Laws_](http://time.com/4172274/what-its-like-to-own-guns-in-a-country-with-strict-gun-control/ "undefined") One Nation leader Hansen has been absent from the public eye since Al Jazeera released its footage, reportedly due to a [tick bite on her face,](https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/no-excuse-pm-hits-back-at-one-nations-alcohol-explanation/news-story/9d5e4cb6595d72c39ac2f107d19c31b0 "undefined") but she posted a preliminary response to the film on Twitter: > [](https://twitter.com/PaulineHansonOz/status/1110717650185785344) Australia has strict gun laws. After a 1996 shooting in Tasmania’s [Port Arthur](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,6606,00.html "undefined") left 35 people dead, then Prime Minister John Howard tightened gun control regulations, particularly related to rifles and shotguns, and announced a government [weapons buyback](http://time.com/2822017/this-/ "undefined"). Over 650,000 guns were surrendered. Another [50,000 illegal firearms](http://time.com/4971977/australia-illegal-firearms-amnesty-las-vegas/ "undefined") were handed in last year when the government granted illegal gun owners a three-month amnesty period. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5559411/australia-drunk-one-nation-guns/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5559411/australia-drunk-one-nation-guns/"},"headline":"'Being Drunk Is No Excuse.' 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