One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s movie-length animated satire has drawn strong criticism from Australia’s classification board, which flagged “crude humour”, cartoon violence and offensive depictions of minority groups ahead of its public release.
The 90-minute film, A Super Progressive Movie, is an extended version of Hanson’s Please Explain cartoon series and premiered on Australia Day, January 26, and is available to stream online.
According to the classification report, the film contains “mature themes”, slapstick violence, sexual references and scenes involving cartoon animal cruelty, including an imaginary kangaroo being blinded by a boomerang.
“The entire film is full of crude humour, which trivialises the fight for equality and issues, including the rights of minority groups and those facing discrimination, including First Nations people, the LGBTQIA+ community, differently abled people, etc,” the report states.
The report also notes references to generational trauma, gender transition and body dysmorphia that it says are mocked, as well as repeated depictions of violence, including characters being struck with boomerangs, run over by cars and dismembered.
“There’s lots of cartoon slapstick violence, with characters being hit in the head and their bodies pierced by objects like boomerangs and being hit by cars,” it states.
The classification board said there was content that “First Nations people would find incredibly offensive”, including the use of a slur and jokes about trauma and victimhood, despite some material being mitigated by the animated format.
The film has already been barred from screening at Parliament House, with officials citing concerns it could cause offence to members of the public.
“The planned special event film screening of A Super Progressive Movie scheduled for 25 November 2025 in the Australian Parliament House theatre has been cancelled in accordance with event booking considerations,” a letter, obtained by news.com.au, from parliamentary officials stated.
“These considerations include the requirement that events held at Australian Parliament House are … not being likely to cause offence to any part of the Australian community.”
Hanson said she was unconcerned by the classification assessment.
“Did anyone seriously think we were going to produce a PG movie?” she said.
“I can’t wait for people to see the movie.
“It deals with the culture of victimhood that is destroying not only Australia, but much of western society.”
She said the decision to limit cinema screenings was deliberate.
“We’ve deliberately gone to stream instead of taking it to all cinemas across the country because of the risk of cancel culture,” she said.
“I suspect most people will love the movie which they can stream online from Australia Day.”
The film will be shown in a limited number of one-night-only cinema events as part of a national premiere tour, with screenings scheduled in Brisbane on January 26, Sydney on January 27, Canberra on January 28, Melbourne on January 29, Adelaide on January 30, Hobart on January 31 and Perth on February 1.
The cartoon series, produced by StepMates Studios, was originally commissioned in 2022 as an animated political satire ahead of the federal election and has since expanded to more than 70 episodes, attracting tens of millions of views online.
The series has previously sparked legal action, including a threatened injunction over an episode that depicted Robert Irwin alongside a parody of the cartoon character Bluey.
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