One Nation Director's Yeppoon Property Linked to Party-Owned Company in Council Papers

Council paperwork links One Nation national director James Ashby's property near Yeppoon in Queensland to a $56,706 shed listed as bought by Small Batch Brewing Pty Ltd. Guardian Australia That company is co-owned by Ashby, party leader Pauline Hanson and One Nation national treasurer Alexander Jones.

Ashby previously served as Hanson's chief of staff. He bought the lifestyle property near Yeppoon in 2025. He has since received council approval to build a house and an in-ground pool there.

The development application lodged with Livingstone Shire, the formal request for building permission, lists Small Batch Brewing as the purchaser of the shed. Independent engineer documentation in the council file names the same company as the customer. Records at ASIC, Australia's corporate regulator, list Small Batch Brewing's principal place of business as One Nation's Brisbane headquarters on an industrial estate at the airport.

Small Batch Brewing holds no liquor licence to sell alcohol. It holds no excise licence, the federal permit required to manufacture alcohol in Australia. Sunshine and Sons is listed as the manufacturer of One Nation's branded liquor line. Ashby said Small Batch Brewing is currently a non-trading entity, like a registered company kept on the shelf but not doing business.

Two vehicles connect the party leadership to the Hancock network. A new Ford Ranger driven by Ashby was personally gifted to One Nation by Hancock Agriculture chief executive Adam Giles in April. A $2 million Cirrus plane was gifted to One Nation by Gina Rinehart, Giles' employer. The aircraft is kept at Rockhampton airport. Ashby is its main pilot.

Ashby said the Ranger is used for campaign and branch purposes. He said the Cirrus plane is not used for personal transportation and that he has a privately owned vehicle for personal use. Ashby, Hanson and a friend of Ashby's flew on the plane's maiden flight to Albury in May.

In May, Hanson asked the Department of Finance for permission to establish a second electorate office in Yeppoon, the taxpayer-funded offices lawmakers use for official work. Ashby told Guardian Australia he will not run at the next federal election.

In late October 2025, Rinehart flew Hanson and Ashby to Florida on her private jet. Rinehart also hosted One Nation donors aboard her private jet, as reported by the Australian Financial Review. Australian Financial Review Ashby denied suggestions that Rinehart is bankrolling One Nation. Hanson and Ashby downplayed Rinehart's connections to One Nation.

The broader context here is the closeness of three categories that specialists usually expect to be kept distinct: personal property, party-linked corporate vehicles, and donor-provided transport. A shed on a director's private holding is attributed in official filings to a company owned by the party leadership and registered at party headquarters, while that company has no licences to trade in the product category linked to its name. Gifted aircraft and vehicles are described as party assets for campaign use, with private use disavowed. For readers who work on party administration and finance, that configuration puts the focus on record-keeping, valuation, use logs and the boundary between parliamentary, party and personal resources.

Looking at what this means for One Nation as an organisation, Yeppoon has become a geographic focus. Ashby's property investment, the council approvals, the proposed second electorate office and the basing of the gifted aircraft at Rockhampton point to sustained activity in central Queensland. At the same time, Ashby has ruled out a candidacy at the next federal election while retaining central operational control as national director and as pilot of the party's principal air asset. The arrangement concentrates logistical knowledge and donor relationships in one office, which can aid coordination across branches and campaigns and can also create succession and oversight questions that party executives, auditors and regulators will need to manage on the public record.