Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party claims it has hired an economist who previously worked on Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign.

The move was announced by the senator’s chief-of-staff James Ashby, during a community forum held in Rockhampton, in central Queensland on Friday night.

The ABC requested additional information from Mr Ashby, but he declined to comment.

The identity of the former Trump staffer is yet to be revealed.

Senator Hanson was responding to a question from the crowd about the economy when the comment was made.

“Just on the economic side on things, tomorrow there’ll be a front-page announcement, from what I understand,” Mr Ashby said.

“We have just hired — and they’ve just landed in the country yesterday [Thursday] — one of the world’s leading economists, who has worked for Donald Trump.

“We have just taken him from the Trump camp, so he’s come on board with us.

“That’s pretty exciting. We need to build credibility on the economic front, so that’s why we’ve hired somebody with that credibility.”

‘I will stand by what I said’

The event in Rockhampton was attended by more than 200 people, and organised by local businessman Dominic Doblo.

During her address, Senator Hanson reiterated that she would not be backing away from controversial comments she made during her recent maiden speech to the Senate about Islam.

“I still stand by what I said,” Ms Hanson said.

“If anyone wants to have a go at what I said, I’d suggest go and read the speech, everything I said in it was factual, and especially about Muslims, Islam and the impact it’s having on our country.

“I won’t back down from what I believe in.

“We need to be able to have an opinion about it, and not shut down by saying the word racist.”

Questionnaires were also handed out to the crowd asking for feedback on a range of topics.

They included refugees, whether teachers have enough disciplinary authority in schools, and the greatest fears faced by people in the Central Queensland region.

ABC