The man who redirected Pauline Hanson's self-titled website to the Refugee Council of Australia says he did it as an "act of social good".
A complaint has since been made over Justin Ice's eligibility to manoeuvre the site, and he's defended the move to auDA, which regulates Australian domain names.
The registration of the domain previously used by Senator Hanson in her rollercoaster political career now takes users to the web page for Australia's peak refugee advocacy group.
Internet archives from Wayback Machine show the website - www.paulinehanson.com.au - had most recently been used in 2017 by a US real estate agent sharing the same name as the Queenslander.
Mr Ice pounced on the domain name on Thursday night after earlier seeing it was soon due to expire and would be up for grabs.
He didn't want it getting back into Senator Hanson's hands, and so registered it to the Refugee Council on its behalf, having no association with the group.
"I registered on their behalf as an act of social good," he told AAP.
"It's a small way of helping focus attention on an important cause and if Ms Hanson can forget to register a domain name, I hope one day she will also forget her prejudices and embrace tolerance.
"I also hope it helps bring a laugh to all the people Ms Hanson has disparaged and discriminated against."
He's argued to the domain regulator that the redirection is the same as tech giants pivoting users to factual information from racist, dangerous and violent content.
"The Refugee Council have a legitimate right to the domain to help end racism and educate people."
Refugee Council of Australia chief Paul Power says the group had no involvement or prior knowledge of the change to the website.
"We assume it's a prank," he said.
"However, we welcome the off chance that Senator Hanson has changed her mind on refugee policy."
Wayback Machine's first archived version of the website is from 2004, when Senator Hanson was making another run at politics after being released from prison the year before over electoral fraud.
The charges were overturned on appeal.
Other versions of the website through the years show media releases of Senator Hanson criticising then federal opposition leader Mark Latham, who is now state leader of One Nation in NSW.
Pauline Hanson the real estate agent used the web address to blog about home buying and moving tips.
The senator's office has been contacted for comment.
Australian Associated Press
