Pauline Hanson has said she would fire two senior public servants over what she described as their 'transgender ideology' in her first address to the National Press Club. 

The One Nation leader began her speech in Canberra on Tuesday by mocking the Nine Network, criticising Welcome to Country and calling for Australia to be a 'monoculture' rather than multicultural. 

She claimed there is a 'transgender campaign' in which 'a man can become a woman because he simply feels that way' before listing who she would sack. 

'The transgender ideology has penetrated almost every regulatory authority and is supported by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, who, in government, I would sack. 

'So too the head of the Human Rights Commission.'

Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Anna Cody, said in May that transgender women could face unlawful discrimination on the basis of 'potential pregnancy' during a Senate estimates hearing. 

The exchange came amid escalating political clashes over the definition of a woman and the legal treatment of sex and gender under Australian law. It followed the Full Federal Court ruling in the Tickle v Giggle case. 

During her speech, Hanson also used a quote by Australian feminist Germaine Greer from a BBC interview in 2015: 'Just because you lop off your penis and then wear a dress doesn't make you a woman.'

'We have almost every instrument of government dedicated to a transgender ideology which seeks to redefine humanity,' Hanson said.

'I am not opposed to transgender people. 

'I am simply saying that a transgender woman should not be allowed into women's sport or into a woman's changing room, and, likewise, a transgender man.'

The One Nation party leader then took aim at government organisations for not defining gender in what she described as 'biological truth'.

She named the Human Rights Commission, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, the AIDS Council of New South Wales, 'regulatory authorities', the Office for Women and 'large sections' of Labor, the Liberals and Greens. 

'Through a stack of government authorities... this movement, like militant Islam, is everywhere and seeks to redefine humanity and biology,' Hanson said.

'It won't happen if I have any say in it. But don't expect the Labor Party to confront this real issue.'

In her address to the National Press Club, Hanson said One Nation supports nuclear power, along with an expansion of coal and gas generation. 

She called out the Coalition, pointing to a motion she moved in the Senate two years ago calling for a national plebiscite on immigration.

'As usual, most of the Senate dismissed the notion of giving Australians a direct say on policy and voted it down,' she said.

'During the debate I distinctly remember Coalition senator Paul Scarr saying the issue was too complex to put to the Australian people. That disgusting comment says all you need to know about the political establishment’s contempt for the Australian people, contempt for their intelligence, and contempt for the very concept of actually listening to them.'

During her speech, Hanson was interrupted by a protest banner highlighting One Nation’s stance on minimum wage increases.

As the leader was speaking, a banner was unfurled behind her on stage in what appeared to be a coordinated stunt.

The message read: 'I opposed a pay rise for workers while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself'.

Press Club staff quickly removed the banner. It was unclear how it managed to get behind her. 

Hanson continued her speech, only briefly looking over at the banner, before forging on.

Before the address, a protest organised by Canberra Socialists gathered outside the venue, with demonstrators holding signs reading 'Migrants are welcome, racists are not.' 

The venue is surrounded by heightened security.

Hanson arrived alongside Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, who is understood to have assisted in preparing her address and handling questions from journalists.