{"id":637380,"date":"2026-04-29T01:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637380\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T01:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:22:13","slug":"pauline-hanson-brags-about-cirrus-g7-private-plane-political-donations-before-farrer-byelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637380\/","title":{"rendered":"Pauline Hanson brags about Cirrus G7 private plane, political donations before Farrer byelection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Updated April 29, 2026 \u2014 10:26am,first published April 29, 2026 \u2014 9:39am<\/p>\n

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Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has gifted a private plane to soaring right-wing force One Nation, spurring party leader Pauline Hanson to brag on social media about the donation blitz, which also included $2 million in cash.<\/p>\n

In a post to social media platform X on Wednesday morning, Hanson bragged about receiving a Cirrus G7 plane, which regularly sell for over $1.5 million, and thanked former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles and climate sceptic professor Ian Plimer for two donations of $500,000. Both Giles and Plimer are employed by billionaire Gina Rinehart.<\/p>\n

\u201cBREAKING NEWS \u2013 I\u2019ve got a new plane, Sarah. Yes it was donated. Yes I\u2019m super happy. Yes it\u2019s fast. Yes it\u2019s amazing. Yes it\u2019s going to annoy the Guardian. Yes it means I can visit more regional towns across the country more often. Yes it\u2019s a Cirrus G7. Yes it\u2019s sexy. Yes I have a pilot. No I won\u2019t be doing welcome to country each [time] we land. No it\u2019s not battery operated,\u201d Hanson wrote in her post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to pass on my sincere thanks to everyone who has made a contribution to One Nation over the years. I cannot thank you enough for the hope and encouragement you give me to help turn this country around.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Hanson confirmed on Wednesday morning that the plane was donated by Rinehart, a close personal ally of the party leader. The social media post published by Hanson did not reference where the plane had come from.<\/p>\n

The reference to \u201cSarah\u201d in the post is believed to be a dig at Guardian Australia journalist Sarah Martin, who has reported extensively on Hanson\u2019s travel expenses, including on Rinehart\u2019s private plane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PaulinePauline Hanson in the donated plane.X\/@PaulineHansonOz<\/p>\n

Hanson has repeatedly scoffed at criticism over her failure to declare flights taken on Rinehart\u2019s private jet, as well as accusations she used taxpayer-funded trips to attend party fundraisers.<\/p>\n

During a press conference last month, Hanson said her travel came at \u201cno cost to the taxpayer\u201d and questioned whether reporting was focused on Rinehart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you worried about whose plane it was on?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s social media post, Hanson attributed a $1 million donation to Angus and Sarah Aitken, who she described as \u201ctwo wonderful, patriotic Australians\u201d. Angus Aitken has previously donated $200,000 to right-wing campaign vehicle Advance, and $24,000 to the Liberal Party.<\/p>\n

Aitken, a successful stockbroker, introduced Rinehart at Newscorp\u2019s Bush Summit in Wagga Wagga last year, saying: \u201cToday, I\u2019m here to introduce my good friend Mrs Rinehart \u2026 she\u2019s not just an Australian, you know, who\u2019s successful in business. She\u2019s a genuine patriot. She loves Australia more than anyone I know, and she is a warm and caring person who is very loyal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two further donations, handed in the form of oversized cheques in a video attached to the X post, came from Plimer and Giles. Plimer is the executive director of Hancock Energy, and Giles is the head of Hancock Agriculture, both companies owned by Rinehart.<\/p>\n

Giles led the Northern Territory\u2019s Country Liberal Party from March 2013 to September 2016, and was chief minister for most of that period. He has since associated more closely with Hanson, donating a branded ute to the party this month.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"One<\/a><\/p>\n

There are currently no caps to party donations, however the haul, which could easily exceed $3.5 million, will require disclosure by the party at the end of this year. Updated donation laws that will place caps on donations to parties and speed up disclosures have been delayed until the end of the year, but will come into effect before the next federal election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of additional fundraising to undertake between now and the cut off in December to combat the uni-party ahead of the 2028 federal election,\u201d Hanson said in her post.<\/p>\n

While details on the model of plane were not made available through the post, information on the Cirrus website suggests the aircraft could travel between 700 and 1000 nautical miles in a single trip, enough to comfortably travel between Melbourne and Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Rinehart has regularly loaned Hanson a plane to travel around the country.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Anthony<\/a><\/p>\n

A byelection for the regional seat of Farrer will be held on May 9, with One Nation candidate David Farle<\/a>y in a close contest with independent Michelle Milthorpe to win the seat. It has been held for the last 25 years by former opposition leader Sussan Ley.<\/p>\n

In the most recent Resolve Political Monitor conducted by this masthead<\/a>, One Nation received a primary vote of 22 per cent, falling just behind the Coalition at 23 per cent. The minor party has twice outpolled the Liberals and Nationals in the past year.<\/p>\n

The offices of Rinehart and Giles have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

More to come. <\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NickNick Newling<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 29, 2026 \u2014 10:26am,first published April 29, 2026 \u2014 9:39am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-637380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}