Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett has never been shy about pushing a political message onstage but is copping it back just as hard over his latest comments on Pauline Hanson and the Gold Coast.
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The One Nation leader and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate hit back at the former environment minister on Monday, throwing his tumultuous political career back in his face.
Senator Hanson copped it from Garrett two nights in a row as the Oils played the Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast and then the Riverstage in Brisbane.
The 64-year-old singer reportedly tweaked the lyrics of one song to say "And Pauline wants to take your vote away/What a dopey broad she is", before following up with clarification in Brisbane.
"I had the opportunity when we were up at Sunshine Coast to have a poke at Ms Hanson and her party," he said from the stage.
"And the reason I did that is I don't want to be rude to the person in question, simply what comes out of her mouth and her ideas and philosophies, amongst many of which are totally objectionable. Morally repugnant and dumb."
Asked about the comments on Monday morning, Ms Hanson immediately referenced the former Labor MP's involvement in the Rudd government's failed home insulation program.
"Like his pink batts? Like when he handled the pink batts and the debacle he made of that one?" she said.
"And lives lost, and he was minister. Really good."
She said Mr Garrett was welcome to make the comments but her party had a lot of support.
"He came under the banner of the Labor Party. I didn't see him standing under his own name and, you know, running a political party," she told ABC Radio Brisbane.
"So I think my achievements over the last 20 years tells me I have a lot of support from a lot of Australians.
"So I'm still here. He's not."
Garrett also copped criticism for a dig he had at the Gold Coast while playing at the region's bitter northern coastal rival on Saturday night.
"For those travelling further south tonight ??? why would you want to?" he said at the Sunshine Coast concert, according to News Corp.
"We won't go there tonight!"
Cr Tate wasn't having any of it on Monday, also shooting straight for Garrett's time in Canberra.
"I'm going to send him a postage stamp so he can write down everything he achieved, as a federal minister, on the back of it," he told News Corp.
