Jacqui Lambie urges One Nation to remove cartoon mocking her health condition

Australian independent senator Jacqui Lambie criticised a One Nation cartoon mocking her vaginal prolapse on Monday, 19 October, and urged Pauline Hanson’s team to ask for its immediate removal. The cartoon turns a health condition Lambie disclosed in parliament into a punchline, drawing criticism from other politicians.

The cartoon is part of Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain series, according to the Guardian. It targets the Albanese government’s Digital Duty of Care legislation on online safety and depicts Lambie saying she cannot laugh because of her condition, followed by a crude sound effect.

What Lambie asked Hanson’s team to do

Speaking to ABC’s RN, Lambie said voters facing a cost-of-living crisis did not need more ‘nastiness’, the Guardian reported. ABC News also reported that she described Hanson’s videos as full of ‘hatred’ and ‘spitefulness’. ABC News said it had contacted One Nation for comment.

Why Lambie had discussed the condition publicly

Lambie disclosed her vaginal and bladder prolapse in an emotional Senate speech in August. The condition required surgery and five months away from parliament, ABC News reported. Lambie had previously linked it to back injuries she sustained in the army. Her Senate address also raised the difficulty other female veterans face in accessing care, according to the Guardian.

Independent MP Monique Ryan and Queensland Labor MP Kara Cook criticised the cartoon and praised Lambie for speaking publicly about a personal health issue, ABC News reported. Ryan said on Sunday that Lambie had shown ‘courage and honesty’ and had made it easier for other affected women to discuss the condition, according to the Guardian.

Ryan wrote that pelvic organ prolapse affects about one in 12 Australian women and is often linked to physical strain, heavy lifting or childbirth, according to the two reports. She described it as uncomfortable and debilitating.