Populist groups such as One Nation whip up anger and tell people who to blame, Jacqui Lambie has told Parliament, urging Australians to reject what she described as the divisive politics of Pauline Hanson and Donald Trump.

Speaking on Tuesday night, a day after Senator Hanson was reported to have described Aboriginal ancestors as the "most primitive race", Senator Lambie criticised the populist party for blaming "immigrants" and "the vulnerable", describing it as a "trick" Australians need to "wake up to".

"Every time a populist leader — like Trump or [Reform UK leader Nigel] Farage — get any power, the lives of working people don't get better," she said. "They get worse."

Senator Lambie pointed to Senator Hanson's previous expressions of admiration for President Trump, including her 2024 comment that she and the US President had a "lot in common", arguing that the Queensland Senator had been "dividing and frightening Australians for years".

"It's the only thing she's good at," Senator Lambie said.

She said Australians had legitimate reasons to be angry about the cost of living, housing shortages and inadequate regional services, but argued that "playing the blame game isn't going to make us wealthier, stronger or smarter".

"Blaming immigrants, blaming the vulnerable, making enemies of those who get in their way, pretending to be fighting for working families — it's a trick, Australia, and we've got to wake up to it," she said.

"One Nation whips up the anger and they tell people who to blame. That's the populist trick."

Senator Hanson, who in 2024 was found guilty of breaching Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act over a social media post targeting Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has faced criticism in recent months over comments concerning Liberal MP and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie's bravery, Aboriginal Australians and the mother of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's time in social housing.

Citing evidence given by Mr Hastie during the defamation trial of former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, Senator Lambie told the Senate: "Calling a veteran a traitor — because he responded, as he should, to a subpoena is plain wrong."

"Calling Aboriginal people 'the most primitive people on earth' is wrong," she said. "Blaming women for domestic violence is wrong. Saying there are 'no good Muslims' is wrong. And when things are wrong — you have to call it out; you have to show courage."

Senator Hanson's comments about Aboriginal Australians prompted Kurin Minang human rights expert and law academic Dr Hannah McGlade to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Dr McGlade told National Indigenous Times this week that former Liberal senator Ross Lightfoot had been found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act over comments she described as "very similar" to Senator Hanson's in 2002.

The comments also drew criticism from Indigenous senators across the political spectrum, including Malarndirri McCarthy, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Lidia Thorpe, Kerrynne Liddle and Jana Stewart.

"When you say 'the most primitive race on Earth,' you are speaking about a race of people," Senator Nampijinpa Price told Sydney radio station 2GB on Tuesday.

"I don't care what excuses are being made. She did absolutely demonstrate wilful ignorance because there's a hell of a lot more to Australia's First Peoples than simply what her remarks suggest."

On Tuesday, Senator Hanson offered a qualified apology for her "primitive race" comments while speaking to reporters.

"All I've asked is for accountability from our ... governments and from our politicians to address these concerns and stop using it as a political football, and I will continue to talk about this," she said.

"If I've offended people by using that [word], yes, I will apologise for that."

Monash University populism expert Benjamin Moffitt said Senator Hanson's views were consistent with her established political positioning.

"She does not like Indigenous people, she's a far-right nativist, racist and nothing's changed there," he told AAP.

"I think it's perceived as cruel, ill-advised and incredibly mean-spirited."

With AAP