Pauline Hanson, the former leader of Australia's far-right One Nation party, appeared in court yesterday charged with fraud in connection with her all but defunct party. She pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding Queensland's electoral commission when One Nation was registered.

Ms Hanson, whose tirades against immigrants and Aborigines made her an unmistakable figure in Australian politics in the late 1990s, has been embroiled in legal problems since she lost her parliamentary seat in 1998.

Her party has since been involved in a bitter split, and along with her co-accused, One Nation director David Ettridge, her only support yesterday came from 20 protesters outside the court.

Within months of her election to the Canberra parliament in 1996 Ms Hanson was seen as a rising force. Interest peaked when One Nation polled 8% of the national vote in elections in 1998, in the same poll in which Ms Hanson lost her seat. Despite the interest, the party soon imploded in in-fighting.

In April, Ms Hanson's political hopes were dashed when she was denied a place in the New South Wales upper house. The state's proportional representation system should have made a seat for her a certainty, but she was beaten by a gun ownership lobby, the Shooters party.