But last night, Australia saw a different side of Pauline Hanson as she broke down on live television, shedding tears.

The One Nation leader angrily and publicly slapped down a member of her own party, vowing the furore would not “finish” her.

Political commentators have said while this emotional insight into Senator Hanson will enhance her electoral prospects, voters should be wary of sympathising with her.

Dr Bligh Grant, an associate professor in politics at the University of Technology, Sydney, said playing on people’s emotions was a hallmark of Senator Hanson’s brand of populist politics.

Much like US President Donald Trump, Senator Hanson has long harnessed the public’s emotions to win over voters.

Dr Grant wasn’t sure that her emotional display was intentional, but he said it would help her political standing.

“One thing we do know is that it won’t do her electoral prospects any harm. It is in the nature of populist politics to be emotivistic,” he said.

“It’s not optimal in a democratic system like ours that we are subject to these kinds of performances, however, I do think that as an electorate we are not aware of the pressures our elected politician are under.”

Senator Hanson was being interviewed on Sky News about Senator Brian Burston’s decision to back the Coalition Government’s company tax cuts and what appears to be his split from the party she founded and brought back to federal Parliament in 2016.

She said he had “stabbed me in the back” — something she claimed had happened before.

“For him to turn around and do this to me … it’s hard. But I’m going to keep going and get good people in that Parliament beside me, because it means so much to me to help the people that need help,” she said.

Political commentator Peter van Onselen argued Senator Hanson’s political persona had been built on conflict and challenging others, usually the major parties.

“But will the internal failings of the One Nation party harm it electorally? The answer is probably not, certainly not in Hanson’s home state of Queensland,” he wrote in an opinion piece for The Australian.

“Especially not for her personally, even if expansion plans do come unstuck.

“The reason is because Hanson’s core supporters rarely see fault in her actions. Any disputes must be the fault of everyone else, not her.”

Dr Bligh also referred to the Australian public getting too caught up in how much Barnaby Joyce and Vicky Campion were getting paid for their controversial interview on Channel 7’s Sunday Night.

“It’s nothing to do with public policy and doesn’t contribute to the formation of good government in a democratic sense,” he said.

“It highly dysfunctional as a parliament and destructive for us to understand public policy.”

Senator Hanson also said Australians were “sick of politicians because they don’t do anything” and defended her record.

“I’ve been able to achieve so much in a short period of time — and I’m not finished,” she said.

“You think I’m going to let Brian Burston or anyone else finish me, they will not just sit on the [Senate] seats and do absolutely nothing and think they can have a cosy ride and collect taxpayers funds and not work for it.”

Political commentator Stephen Stockwell said Ms Hanson’s emotional side would certainly appeal to her female supporters.

“The crying is clear evidence of how serious she does take it (politics),” he said.

“She wasn’t embarrassed about showing it. She didn’t apologise for that show of emotion and I think that speaks to a lot of her female supporters, very clearly and very strongly, that she doesn’t mind wearing her emotions on her sleeve.

“The interesting thing is what impact it will have on a lot of her male supporters who won’t think she’s coming from a position of strength and will be embarrassed by her crying. Bob Hawke could get away with it.”

Since the interview there has been rumours of an unexpected team up with Mark Latham.