Pauline Hanson has walked back on her stance about climbing Uluru and says she now respects the decision to close it off to visitors.
The One Nation leader had been a vocal critic of the upcoming ban and even attempted to defiantly scale the sacred site in the Northern Territory on Thursday.
However, she is reported to have only made it 40 metres up the rock before turning back.
She later told the ABC the short climb had been 'scary' and that she understood why the rock should be closed for safety reasons.
Pauline Hanson (pictured) has walked back on her stance about climbing Uluru and says she now respects the decision to close it off to visitors
The One Nation leader had been a vocal critic of the upcoming ban and even attempted to defiantly scale the sacred site in the Northern Territory on Thursday
'I respect the decision that there is not enough safety with regards to the rock,' she said.
'I respect the decision that their people, their kids, are not getting jobs. They're bringing in Aboriginals from outside to fill the positions that should belong to their own people.'
Uluru will be closed off to climbers in October after a decision was made to prevent future scaling of the sacred site.
Ms Hanson had touched down in the Northern Territory earlier this week and made known her intention to climb the rock in defiance of the ban.
She has previously aired her disagreement and even compared shutting down the iconic rock to closing Bondi Beach in Sydney's east.
She said the sacred rock should remain open for climbing because 'we've been climbing the Ayers Rock, or Uluru, for many years'.
'People have been climbing the rock all of these years and now all of a sudden they want to shut it down?,' Ms Hanson told Deb Knight on Channel Nine's Today.
Uluru will be closed off to climbers in October after a decision was made to prevent future scaling of the sacred site
Senator Hanson said October's closure of the climb was 'ridiculous', pointing out that it provided significant revenue to the local indigenous community.
'The Australian taxpayers put in millions, hundreds of millions of dollars into it and they're wanting another $27.5 million to upgrade the airport there for the resort,' she said.
'Now the resort has only returned $19 million to the taxpayers only just recently. It employs over 400 people there, 38 per cent are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
'It's money-making. It's giving jobs to indigenous communities, and you've got thousands of tourists who go there every year and want to climb the rock.'
