By Phil Mercer BBC, Sydney

Pauline Hanson has controversial views on Asian immigration

The 50-year-old spent almost three months in jail last year for electoral fraud, a conviction that was later overturned on appeal.

On her release from prison, she said she would have to have rocks in her head to return to politics.

It seemed she was destined to follow a career in business or in country and western music.

But the former fish and chip shop owner has now told Australian television that she will stand for the upper house of parliament, the Senate, in her home state of Queensland.

She has put this about-turn down to the level of public support she has been receiving - and to her father, who has urged her to re-join the rough and tumble of Australian politics.

Ms Hanson has always insisted the case that resulted in her being thrown in jail for electoral fraud was politically motivated. Her official website compared her incarceration to that of Nelson Mandela.

Her star burned brightest when she entered Federal Parliament in 1996. She spoke out against Asian immigration into Australia, and said indigenous people received too many government hand-outs. Her views caused widespread offence.

Pauline Hanson's record at the ballot box since those early days has been poor.

She failed to win a seat in the elections of 1998 and 2001. She tried her luck as an independent candidate for the New South Wales state parliament last year but was also unsuccessful.