"She has proven former prime minister Paul Keating wrong when he said that a soufflé never rises twice," he said.

Paul Keating was referring to Andrew Peacock's second attempt in 1989 to win the Liberal leadership.

Paul Tully was referring to Pauline Hanson's "astonishing" 2016 Senate win, 20 years after her 1996 win as the Member for Oxley.

I first met Pauline Hanson 22 years ago, when she was trying to win a seat as a councillor in Ipswich and push Marsden's Fish and Chip Shop at Silkstone into the background.

I last spoke to her during the 2015 Queensland election when she narrowly missed (49.8 per cent) winning the seat of Lockyer against sitting MP, Ian Rickuss and securing a 23 per cent swing.

Since winning two elections in 1994 and 1996, she has tried almost continually at either state or federal level, in 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and then last Saturday.

The question now is; "What will One Nation achieve? What is their track record in office?"

Pauline Hanson's record

One year: Ipswich City Council 1994-95.

One term: Member for Oxley 1996-1998

One Nation in Queensland 1998-2001 – one term: marked by five MPs splitting One Nation to form the City Country Alliance after financial strife, with all six MPs then losing in 2001.

Remembering Pauline

Back in April 1994 I interviewed her in Ipswich's Queens Park – me; a cadet reporter for The Queensland Times, Pauline; a cadet politician - and we talked about the Ipswich Library. She was about to serve on the Library Services committee. Ipswich Library in 1994-96 was about to become a new world for Ipswich, because it opened the door to this thing called "the internet" in Queensland.

The internet and the Ipswich Library – called Global Info Links – subsequently became transformative for Ipswich, riddled with closing mines and businesses. It was the early days of the world's new superhighway.

The old coal town was dying. It needed a fresh start. A Labor Ipswich City Council has just been overwhelmingly rejected in the council election. Ten Labor councillors got turfed out.

"It was pretty extraordinary," Labor councillor Paul Tully remembered. "It went from 10 Labor and one independent, to one Labor (Tully) and 10 independents," he said.

Ipswich's internet at its new library, or Global Info Links, was the key to its future.

Ipswich's mayor at the time, Dave Underwood had the idea. Paul Pisasale was not in office. Pauline Hanson hated spending money on the new library and the Global Info Links. She stood as a councillor to oppose Dave Underwood's new-generation library.

The transforming power of the internet did not make it to her maiden speech when she left the council in 1995 and scrambled into federal politics in 1996.

Cr Tully is the now only serving Ipswich councillor who served with Pauline Hanson in 1994-95. He was never a fan, but today is relatively moderate remembering her contribution to Ipswich.

"She was the shortest-serving councillor in Ipswich's history since 1860," Cr Tully said.

"She was just a typical, newly elected councillor, who didn't know a lot about local government and asked a lot of questions," he said.

"She had a strong view against unions and - other than that - it was quite an un-exceptional 12 months."

"She served 12 months, lost the next council election, then came back the next year as the Liberal candidate for Oxley and became the disendorsed candidate for Oxley.

"But, she appeared on the ballot paper as a Liberal and she catapulted onto the national stage because of her dis-endorsement."

The Liberal Party had disendorsed Pauline Hanson as the 1996 candidate because of this letter to the editor in The Queensland Times, which criticised financial assistance given to aboriginal students.

Her subsequent profile became astonishing and she subsequently thrashed Labor's sitting MP Les Scott, securing a massive 23-per-cent swing at the 1996 federal election. It was the safest Labor seat in Australia and had been held by Bill Hayden.

Her maiden speech in September 1996 earned her criticism as being 'racist', though it was written by PNG Sepik River crocodile hunter, artist and political commentator John Pasquarelli.

"I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. Between 1984 and 1995, 40 per cent of all migrants coming into this country were of Asian origin. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate. Of course, I will be called racist but, if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country."

The speech included this phrase as well, though it was rarely reported.

"Reconciliation is everyone recognising and treating each other as equals, and everyone must be responsible for their own actions."

She held Oxley for two years until 1998 - with every step heavily scrutinised by local, state and federal media - when she decided to run for the new seat of Blair.

In between – in 1997 – she formed Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party with the "two Davids"; David Oldfield and David Ettridge and questions over money, funding and their influence over the MP emerged.

She polled most votes in the seat of Blair as a One Nation candidate at the 1998 election (36 per cent), but lost the seat to the Liberals' Cameron Thompson who polled third, because Labor – who polled second – preferenced the Liberal Party over One Nation. Pauline Hanson never forgot that preference deal.

And around 1998 former prime minister Tony Abbott allegedly became involved in bankrolling a $100,000 trust fund to help a candidate called Terry Sharples raise doubts about One Nation around the 1998 election.

What did she achieve as the Member for Oxley?

 "I think she more served the national political agenda, rather than the people of Oxley," Cr Tully said.

"And because of that, she knew that her time was up and she switched seats in 1998 to the new seat of Blair.

"And I think she realised that it was a fluke her election in 1996, when the Labor Party was on the nose basically."

However Pauline Hanson won more votes in 1998 than either the Labor Party, or the Liberals in Blair. And still lost. She never forgot.

Pauline Hanson – a  pocket timeline

1994-95 – Wins a spot as an independent Ipswich City council in an anti-Labor rush.

1995 – Loses the Ipswich City Council election and joins the Liberal Party.

1996 – gets pre-selected to stand for the Liberal Party against Labor's Les Scott

March 1996 – gets dis-endorsed for this letter to the editor of The Queensland Times;

March 1996 – Oxley ballot paper shows her as the Liberal candidate, even though she ius disendorsed and she wins in a massive 23 per cent swing against Les Scott.

September  10, 1996 – maiden speech to parliament.

October 13, 1996 -  Asks 60 Minutes host Tracey Curro to 'Please explain? when she was asked if she is xenophobic.

April 1997 – Pauline Hanson's One Nation party formed and registered by Pauline Hanson and the two "Davids", David Oldfield and David Ettridge.

June 1998:  Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party wins 11 seats in the 89-seat  Queensland Parliament, securing  23 per cent of the vote.

The Queensland leader of One Nation in 1998 was Heather Hill, a locally respected family resource centre administrator, who was elected as a Queensland senator, but lost the position because she held dual British/Australian citizenship. She was replaced by One Nation's second placeholder Len Harris who served until 2005.

October 1998: Pauline loses the 1998 federal election; when she stands as a One Nation candidate after switching from Oxley to the new seat of Blair. She wins most primary votes (36 per cent) but Liberal candidate Cameron Thompson – who polled third (21.7 per cent) wins on Labor preferences, because Labor preferenced  the Liberals over One Nation.

1998-99: Five One Nation Queensland MPs split from One Nation after internal funding disputes to run as independents.

1999: Queensland's City Country Alliance forms from these five MPs, plus Jeff Knuth – brother of Dalrymple and Katter Party MP Shane Knuth - who won the seat of Burdekin for a few months.

February 2001: City Country Alliance loses all six MPs at the Queensland election and receives 2.39 per cent of the vote.

April 2003: The Australian Electoral Commission rules the City Country Alliance defunct.

August 20 2003: Pauline Hanson and fellow One Nation founder David Ettridge found guilty of fraud – for registering 500 names from the One Nation "Support Group" as Pauline Hanson's One Nation political party and sentenced to three years jail. Asked to repay $500,000 in electoral funds.

August 27, 2003 – Tony Abbott says sorry for his role in raising $100,000 to oppose Pauline Hanson.

November 7, 2003 – Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge freed from jail at Wacol Correctional Centre on appeal and all charges quashed.

mid-2004 - Pauline Hanson dances on Dancing With the Stars

July 2, 2016 – Pauline Hanson herself wins a Senate spot and One Nation possibly two more.

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