Raunchy photographs of a teenage Pauline Hanson have been sold to the media by an old boyfriend.
The photographs were taken in the mid-1970s, showing Ms Hanson partially nude and dressed in lingerie.
The former One Nation leader, who is hoping to stage a political comeback in the Queensland election, would have been about 19 when the shots were taken during a drunken interlude on a resort holiday, News Limited reports.
Ms Hanson met army commando Jack Johnson in a Brisbane grocery shop and the pair dated until he was posted overseas.
Ms Hanson was drunk on passion pop and Mr Johnson on imported beer when the impromptu photo session took place, News Ltd says.
Mr Johnson, now living in Sydney and struggling to repay debts after treatment for bone cancer, said he tried to give the photographs back to Ms Hanson at an event but was stopped by one of her staff members.
He said he was digitising old photos recently with a friend, who recognised Ms Hanson and suggested they would be worth money.
"Sorry it's come to this sweetheart ... that's the way it is," he told News Ltd.
A spokesman for Ms Hanson said they did not "care about photos".
Meanwhile, Former One Nation member and NSW MP David Oldfield says that the release of the photos could be a political marketing ploy.
They would have been worth a lot more money 10 years ago, when Ms Hanson was involved in federal politics, he said.
Mr Oldfield said rather than hurt her political campaign it might help, portraying her as a betrayed victim.
"I would not see it as an issue from a political point of view," he told the Nine Network on Sunday.
"I would think it's a good spread from a victim's point of view ... see it as a political bonus ..." by creating a level of sympathy.
However, he also said such photographs, if really taken when she was 19, could pose questions on her morality.
"If indeed the photos were taken when she was 19 years old, she's a newly married young mother and I would have thought that was, in my view that would be embarrassing, tarnishing from her perspective," Mr Oldfield said.
They would be evidence of a "30-year secret" and of "infidelity".
"I just find the timing of this to be amazing ... I would think it's a good marketing ploy ...," he said.
Federal frontbencher Stephen Smith says that the release of the photographs is an example of the burdens people in public life must sometimes bear.
Asked by Laurie Oakes on the Nine Network if he thought the photos' release would work in Ms Hanson's favour - like the revelation that then opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd had visited New York's Scores nightclub, Mr Smith said he couldn't say.
"I don't know whether they'll be a plus or a minus," Mr Smith said.
"Frankly, I think it's all a bit sad and unfortunate.
"I think the disclosure of the photos and the reason behind the disclosure, I think, is very sad.
"And, I think, the fact that anyone has photos retailed of when they were 17, 18 or 19 is unfortunate, but we are in public life and sometimes we have to bear that burden.
"Unfortunate is, I think, the best word I can use to describe it, whatever political consequences or ramifications there might be."
Ms Hanson so far on Sunday has declined to comment on the photographs' publication.
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