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The Liberal senator James Paterson has criticised “absolutely extraordinary” decision by Pauline Hanson’s political party to keep a convicted rapist on staff, saying it’s “very hard to take One Nation seriously”.

Sean Black, who in 2018 was jailed for rape and subsequently lost his appeal against the conviction, was initially rehired by One Nation in 2020 as a campaign director after serving his time. He remained employed by the minor right-wing party at least as of last week.

The Liberal National MP Garth Hamilton wrote to the House of Representatives speaker last week to share his concern about whether Black had been in the building, according to the Courier Mail.

“I want to know when there’s a rapist in parliament,” Hamilton wrote.

On Sunday, Paterson said it was “absolutely extraordinary that One Nation thinks it’s appropriate to hire someone who’s been convicted of such a serious crime to work for them”.

“It means it’s very hard to take One Nation seriously when they talk about law and order, when they talk about being tough on crime, when they talk about domestic violence,” he told Sky News.

“They have a pretence of being a serious political party, and they are employing a convicted rapist to work for them. I don’t think he should be allowed in Parliament House in sitting weeks, and if he is being brought to Parliament House, they should explain why they think that’s appropriate.”

Guardian Australia has contacted One Nation for a response.

One Nation’s rise since the 2025 federal election could supplant support for the Coalition as the defacto opposition party in a number of regions, opinion polls suggest.

The upcoming byelection in Farrer will be a test of whether the right-wing party can capitalise on waning support for the major parties, particularly the Coalition.

Paterson said the Liberals would scrutinise One Nation by pointing to its failures, including the number of people it has had elected to parliaments that subsequently quit the party before the end of their first term.

“I mean, this is an extraordinary track record of failure by One Nation, and it really calls into question whether or not they could ever govern in the national interest for all Australians,” Paterson said.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, used a speech at a pub event in his electorate on Sunday to warn that Labor’s opponents are a “three-ring circus of rightwing parties” that “desperately want Australia to fail”.

“They’ve made the political calculation that the worse Australians fare, the worse Australia performs, the more divided our politics and societies, the greater dividend for them politically,” he said.

“Take One Nation. At every turn and in almost every vote, when they’ve had the choice between voting how communities, like ours, need them to or voting the way Gina Rinehart tells them to, they make the wrong choice.

“Their reason for being is to capitalise on the politics of division. Our reason for being is providing economic security and creating economic opportunity as the best defence against division and polarisation.”