Pauline Hanson has reacted furiously after one of Labor’s most senior female figures said the One Nation leader should consider whether her own engagement with extremist ideas and “neo-nazis” was inciting violence towards her.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland on Tuesday declared the Queensland Senator had to look at herself and her own standards before accusing the Prime Minister of being responsible for the public threats she faces.

“It is dangerous to be a politician in Australia today. It’s dangerous to be a high-profile woman. It is dangerous to be going out in public in some instances, and I can say this as someone who has been in parliament for 16 years,” Ms Rowland told the ABC.

“I would suggest that Senator Hanson should examine what her party and what her ideology and her behaviour is doing, and whether or not that is encouraging that. I don’t wish any politician any ill will, irrespective of their political persuasion … (however) I think sometimes when comments like this are made, one needs to look at oneself and one’s behaviour.”

“When you go on and you entertain some of the individuals whom she has been entertaining, who are not only convicted criminals, but when you admit that you have a party that has been infiltrated by extremists and neo-nazis, this is exactly the kind of dangers to which politicians are being put in this country”.

“I think sometimes when comments like this are made, one needs to look at oneself and one’s behaviour, and the kinds of standards that they accept into their own party and their own ideology,” the country’s first law officer argued.

Although Ms Rowland did not specify who she was talking about, Senator Hanson has faced similar criticism recently for appearing on a podcast in the UK with Tommy Robinson, an anti-immigration activist and convicted criminal.

Hitting back at the criticism, Senator Hanson demanded that the Attorney-General immediately retract her comments and apologise for “slandering One Nation and its supporters while appearing to excuse the violent threats directed against them”.

“Millions of Australians support One Nation. They are not extremists. They are not dangerous. And ministers should not use language that encourages others to treat them as if they are,” she posted on X.

“No minister, especially the Attorney-General and first law officer of the country, should suggest there is any justification for threats against Australians because of the political party they support.”

“Labor should be asking why Australians are abandoning them for One Nation, not demonising those Australians for how they vote and putting them in danger. These are desperate acts from a government of liars.”

During a weekend speech, the Prime Minister took aim at right-wing populists for “peddling dangerous, divisive and dishonest” politics, sparking fury from Senator Hanson who on Monday accused Anthony Albanese of inciting violence against her.

In June, The Nightly revealed Senator Hanson’s then chief of staff had raised the need for greater Australian Federal Police protection for the outspoken politician directly with senior members of the Albanese government.

Just last week a Perth man appeared in court accused of threatening to “hunt down and kill” the One Nation leader in a series of alleged vile Facebook posts made against Pauline Hanson.

On Tuesday, Labor frontbench figures continued to attack Senator Hanson’s record as they insisted Mr Albanese was not to blame for any threats the One Nation leader had received.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman said the Albanese government had for years been urging all politicians to bring down the temperature of public debate, which One Nation had refused to do.

“I completely disagree with the assertion that Senator Hanson has put out there. It has been the Labor government that have been saying for years and years that we need to bring the temperature down and disagree respectfully. And that is what I do,” he told the ABC.

“It is what the Prime Minister does. It is not always, I will be honest, what I see and what I observe from One Nation. But I welcome Senator Hanson joining with us to say that we need to make sure we all treat one another in a respectful way.

“I have found some of the stunts that Senator Hanson has done over the years, including in the Senate chamber, to be not consistent with the effort to make sure that we bring Australians together and do our politics respectfully.”

The Nightly understands the number of AFP officers assigned to Senator Hanson’s personal security details has recently been increased and the politician has also upgraded security measures at her Queensland home.

Earlier this week the One Nation leader also revealed she had been receiving “that many death threats … it never happened in a country like this before”.

When asked on Tuesday about the escalating dispute between Labor and One Nation, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor declined to “get into commentary on these things”, but suggested the Prime Minister was a hypocrite.

“I did see the Prime Minister talking about his political opponents being divisive and dangerous and dishonest. I tell you who’s divisive and dangerous dishonest, that’s the Prime Minister,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“You know he divided Australians by race on The Voice (referendum). What he has failed to do on many things including with Islamic extremism and the royal commission on anti-Semitism is he’s failed to deal with dangerous situations.”