Did Gina Rinehart Fund Pauline Hanson? Here's What We Know
Pauline Hanson told The Guardian's Sarah Martin in February she was not funded by Gina Rinehart. The Guardian now reports support did flow from Rinehart to Hanson's One Nation The Guardian.
Hanson leads One Nation. Rinehart is Australia's richest person. Their claim and counter-claim are the focus of episode one of The Guardian's The Populist podcast, called 'Aeroplanes and bulldozers'.
Martin spent months checking records. She used flight tracking and expense records to trace support from Rinehart to One Nation. The episode runs from the Farrer byelection, a local vote for a new MP, to the National Press Club, where leaders face journalists. The Guardian also released a preview called 'The Populist: Pauline Hanson's divided nation'.
The denial and the paper trail
The February denial was flat. No funding. Since then the reporting has built slowly from documents. That means federal expense records, flight logs, and declarations with gaps in them.
For Canberra watchers, that method is hard to argue with. You can spin a talking point. You cannot spin a tail number.
Reuters reported in May that rich donors including Rinehart had moved from the Liberal Party to One Nation Reuters. At that time One Nation was polling well and close to winning its first seat in the House of Reps, the lower house.
The ABC later put a number on the freebies, not cash but free use of costly things. Hanson and One Nation got more than $3 million worth, including a brand-new plane from Rinehart worth $1 million ABC. A second ABC report detailed an orange bulldozer from Rinehart to Hanson. The podcast title refers to that plane and bulldozer.
Beds, jets and bodyguards
Hanson and Barnaby Joyce stayed overnight at Rinehart's $20 million Brisbane mansion after One Nation fundraisers The Guardian.
Joyce spoke live to Channel Seven's Sunrise from inside the house. That was on Monday 13 April, the morning after a fundraiser at Rinehart's Hawthorne house on the Brisbane River.
Expense records show Hanson and Joyce declared flights on 13 April paid for by Hancock Prospecting, Rinehart's company. Flight data shows them flying Brisbane to Sydney that afternoon on Rinehart's Gulfstream jet.
The overnight stay has not been declared. MPs must declare gifts or free stays worth more than $300.
Joyce told Guardian Australia that Rinehart "was a long-term friend over decades not a motel".
Hanson has also used one of Rinehart's bodyguards for personal security. He has worked closely for Rinehart for more than a decade and has been seen with Hanson in Perth and Canberra.
In 2013 the New South Wales Supreme Court heard Rinehart asked that bodyguard to offer her daughter Bianca Rinehart a $25 million loan to drop a family trust court fight. She said no.
One Nation did not declare earlier Hancock Prospecting flights for Hanson going back to August last year.
To put that list in context, you have an undeclared stay, declared flights on 13 April, earlier flights not declared, and a borrowed minder from the same stable.
Bulldozers, planes and donor drift
Joyce handed back a $40,000 award from Rinehart after criticism. Hanson banned ABC and Guardian journalists. Minister Amanda Rishworth said Hanson must "turn up and answer questions" after the ban.
At her first National Press Club address, Hanson called Martin "trashy". Episode one ends there.
The broader context here is the rule book. Think of it like a receipt book. One book records what taxpayers pay for. It picked up the 13 April flights. The other book records party gifts. That is where the questions sit about earlier flights and stays over $300.
In my view, the test is simple and it applies to everyone. Hanson said no funding. The Guardian lists a plane, a bulldozer, jets, beds and a bodyguard. Friendship may explain some of it, as Joyce argued. Friendship does not decide what must be declared.
Looking at the majors, donor drift is the big point. When money that sat with the Liberals moves to One Nation, sway moves with it. Add strong polls and a first lower-house seat, and small-party paperwork becomes a big-party problem.
