What was claimed
A photo shows Pauline Hanson working in the fish and chip shop she ran before being elected to parliament.
Our verdict
False. The photo is AI-generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - A vintage-style photo of Pauline Hanson working in a busy fish and chip shop in the late 1980s is circulating online, but it’s fake.
The One Nation leader did run a fish and chip shop in Ipswich before she was first elected to parliament in 1996, but the image in question is AI-generated.
The image has been widely shared on social media, alongside a sentimentalised retelling of Senator Hanson’s life before politics.
“In 1987 Pauline Hanson was divorced and alone with three children, when she borrowed money to buy Marsden’s Seafood in Ipswich, a rundown takeaway shop,” a September 17 Facebook post reads.
“She turned the business around. For eight years she worked 80 to 90 hours a week, six days a week largely by herself, to support her children and avoid going on benefits.
“Pauline had no parents or other family support, making it 'extremely hard' Just one of the many reasons we love her.”
The image in the post purports to show Senator Hanson smiling behind the shop counter as she hands food to a customer.
The shop is adorned with an Australian flag hanging from the ceiling and a sign next to it that reads: “GOOD FOOD, GOOD MATES, GREAT AUSSIES”.
However, a few visual clues suggest the image was created using AI software.
The Australian flag in the image has seven stars, instead of the usual six.
In the foreground, a plate of uncooked fish appears to be merged with the glass front of the hot food counter.
Additionally, Senator Hanson’s fish and chip shop was called Marsden’s Seafood, according to a 2015 article in The Queensland Times, but a sign behind the counter in the AI-generated image erroneously reads “SILKSTONE FISH & CHIPS”.
The style and wording of the shop signage in the AI-generated image do not match a genuine image of Senator Hanson’s shop from 1998, published in a 2016 Courier Mail article.
Silkstone is the suburb where the fish and chip shop formerly owned by Senator Hanson is located, according to The Queensland Times article.
Senator Hanson owned Marsden’s Seafood from 1987 to 1997 “after 10 years of hard work 90 hours a week providing for myself and my family”, the article quotes Senator Hanson as saying.
OpenAI’s verification tool also reveals the image contains an invisible digital watermark, known as SynthID, that confirms it was generated using OpenAI software.
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