Pauline Hanson has claimed thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded flights and chauffeured vehicles to headline political fundraisers for One Nation, raising questions about whether she is in potential breach of parliamentary rules.<\/p>\n
Hanson has previously criticised MPs\u2019 use of taxpayer-funded entitlements, but Guardian Australia can reveal the Queensland senator billed taxpayers for multiple flights to campaign alongside her daughter, Lee Hanson, who was the party\u2019s lead senate candidate in Tasmania at the last election. This included a return trip from Hobart to Sydney to appear live on Channel 7\u2019s Sunrise program.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the Guardian revealed <\/a>that Lee Hanson has since been employed by One Nation as a senior adviser for the party\u2019s NSW senator, Sean Bell, a former \u201ctrusted adviser\u201d to her mother.<\/p>\n Under guidelines for parliamentarians, the \u201cdominant purpose\u201d <\/a>for taxpayer-funded travel must be parliamentary business. While political campaigning is not excluded under the guidelines, \u201cyou must not claim work expenses or use public resources for the purpose of fundraising, soliciting donations or attending fundraising events and activities\u201d \u2013 unless related to charity.<\/p>\n MPs from both major parties have frequently sought to justify using taxpayer resources to attend political fundraisers, usually by claiming other coincidental parliamentary or constituent business.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n Records from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) show that, in the lead-up to the last election, Hanson billed taxpayers thousands of dollars for trips which included attendance at political fundraisers. Among the expenses was $1,650 to attend an Adelaide \u201cAustralia Day\u201d fundraiser last year, alongside a One Nation<\/a> senate candidate and South Australian upper house MP Sarah Game, who has since quit the party.<\/p>\n Hanson also claimed more than $2,000 to fly from Brisbane to Sydney on 14 February 2025, and then from Newcastle to Brisbane two days later.<\/p>\n On 15 February, Hanson headlined a One Nation fundraising dinner with her NSW candidates on the state\u2019s Central Coast \u2013 about midway between Sydney and Newcastle. Comcars in Brisbane linked to the trip totalled $700.<\/p>\n The party also held its NSW annual general meeting in Gosford on the same day. <\/p>\n In April 2025, Hanson claimed about $1,200 in flights to and from Newcastle, and attended a fundraising event in Maitland with the party\u2019s candidate for the seat of Paterson.<\/p>\n In 2024, Hanson also headlined a fundraiser at an open-air floating bar on the Swan River as part of a $2,200 trip to Perth.<\/p>\n Hanson has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Daughter\u2019s campaign<\/p>\n According to IPEA records, Hanson claimed $2,400 across six flights to and from Hobart over a five-day period last April \u2013 which coincided with the launch of her daughter\u2019s senate campaign. They included return flights to Sydney where the pair appeared in the Sunrise studio on 3 April, at a cost of $1,200, and $200 in Comcar fares.<\/p>\n The party leader then claimed another $2,500 to and from Hobart, where she campaigned with her daughter in the final week of the election campaign. She stayed in Hobart until the day after election night, returning to Brisbane on 4 May.<\/p>\n Hanson\u2019s use of taxpayer funded travel has previously been the subject of an assurance review by the expenses watchdog, after she claimed almost $5,000 to attend Gina Rinehart\u2019s 70th birthday party in Perth in 2024.<\/p>\n She was cleared of any wrongdoing<\/a>, after her office provided diary entries that showed she met with senior executives from Rinehart\u2019s company, Hancock Prospecting, which were used to justify the trip was related to her parliamentary duties.<\/p>\n The One Nation senator has also repeatedly failed to properly declare gifts from Rinehart, correctly updating the register only after Guardian Australia published details of her undeclared flights. The Guardian revealed last year that the mining magnate flew Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby<\/a> on her private jet to Florida, and again on a flight <\/a>between Melbourne and Sydney after a Rinehart-linked event in Geelong in October.<\/p>\n IPEA records show that Hanson also claimed $2,260 in taxpayer funded flights to travel to Adelaide in November 2024, where she joined Rinehart at her national mining and agriculture days. Hanson was seen dancing alongside Rinehart at the gala mining event in Moomba where Guy Sebastian performed.<\/p>\n