One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has failed to properly declare more free flights gifted from mining billionaire Gina Rinehart – this time through her agricultural company S Kidman and Co.
Hanson updated her register on Tuesday to include multiple flights taken last year courtesy of Rinehart’s company following questions sent from Guardian Australia on Monday regarding a flight from Tamworth to Brisbane on 8 December last year.
The declaration included the flight from Tamworth to Brisbane, and two other flights for the News Corp bush summit held in August last year. Hanson travelled from Brisbane to Toowoomba on 24 August, and then from Toowoomba to Canberra the next day.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThere are now five private flights gifted from Rinehart’s companies that the Queensland senator has failed to properly declare in line with Senate rules until being questioned by the Guardian.
The undeclared Tamworth to Brisbane flight on 8 December last year was taken on the day the former Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce announced his defection to One Nation.
The pair announced Joyce’s decision to join Hanson on Tamworth radio on the morning of 8 December, promising to “hold both … Labor and the opposition to account”.
Flight-tracking information shows that a Pilatus PC-12 registered to Kidman and Co departed Tamworth airport at 10.30pm on the evening of 8 December, landing in Brisbane an hour later.
Under Senate rules, any sponsored hospitality, travel or gift valued at more than $300 must be declared to the Senate registrar within 35 days.
The Senate rules state that any senator who “knowingly fails to notify” an alteration within the 35 day timeframe is “guilty of a serious contempt of the Senate and shall be dealt with by the Senate accordingly”.
However, to determine if a senator has committed such “a serious contempt”, they must first be referred to the Privileges Committee for inquiry and report.
Hanson’s office refused to offer an explanation for the missed disclosure, and did not respond to questions from the Guardian.
On Tuesday afternoon the register was also updated to include flights provided to Hanson for the South Australian election campaign, travelling from Brisbane to regional centres in the state.
The disclosure included the note: “Very thankful to S. Kidman CEO, Adam Giles who represents the legacy of Sir Sidney Kidman, born in Adelaide in 1857 and legendary figure in Australia’s cattle industry.
“It’s also wonderful catching a flight that doesn’t try and welcome me to my own country each time it touches down.”
The NSW One Nation senator Sean Bell also updated his register of interests on Tuesday afternoon to declare that he too was on the S Kidman and Co Tamworth to Brisbane flight on 8 December.
Hanson has been contradictory in her statements about Rinehart’s support for One Nation.
At a press conference in February, when asked about flights gifted from Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, Hanson said “If you are going to try to say that I am being funded by Gina Rinehart, the answer is no.”
But in a podcast recorded the week earlier, Hanson said she was happy to say that Rinehart is “very much behind me”.
“I really appreciate it. I’ll tell you why. Because all these years I’ve had to struggle and we’ve had to go out and do our fundraising like the sausage sizzle or selling our merchandise or you know from the mums and dads who become members of the party and we’ve had to do that because we didn’t have the big corporate backers. Never did have,” she told the 2 Worlds Collide podcast.
“And this woman saw something in me. She believed in me. She’s been watching because she is a real backer of Australians.
“So she’s just this proud patriotic Australian and she sees that in me. She respects what I’m trying to do.”
Hanson also compared her support from Rinehart to support from other billionaires who supported the left side of politics.
Guardian Australia revealed in December last year that Hanson failed to properly declare that she and her chief of staff, James Ashby, had received flights from Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting to travel to and from Florida, where they also stayed at Rinehart’s $66m Palm Beach mansion.
In December, Ashby told Nine Newspapers the speculation about Rinehart’s backing for them was unfounded, saying “I haven’t seen any money from her”.
In February, the Guardian also revealed that the Queensland senator flew to Sydney from Melbourne’s Essendon airport on Rinehart’s Gulfstream G700 after an event in October.
She also billed taxpayers almost $9,000 for a chartered plane to attend the event, which was held to celebrate Rinehart’s donation to the private Marcus Oldham College. A spokesperson for Hanson told Guardian Australia the cheapest option available was chosen as there were no commercial flights between Tamworth and Avalon.
