Pauline Hanson charged taxpayers almost $9,000 for a chartered plane to attend an event honoring billionaire miner Gina Rinehart’s donation to a private agricultural school, parliamentary expenses data shows.
The One Nation leader flew from Tamworth to Avalon in October 2025 to attend the opening of new student accommodation at the private Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, with the chartered flight costing $8,870.
The details of the flight, published by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority on Wednesday night, come as Hanson faces increasing scrutiny over his use of taxpayer-funded entitlements that are intended to support the parliamentary business of a sitting member.
Guardian Australia revealed this week that Hanson had made multiple taxpayer-funded travel claims totaling $8,900 for trips that included political fundraising events for One Nation around the country in the run-up to the last election.
Under rules governing the use of taxpayer-funded travel, MPs and senators must ensure their claims meet the “dominant purpose test” of parliamentary activities and “must use public resources for parliamentary activities in a way that achieves value for money”.
According to publicly available flight data, the private chartered plane left Tamworth at 8.33am on October 19, the day of the event, and landed at Melbourne’s Avalon Airport, a 25-minute drive from the university, shortly before noon.
A Hanson spokesperson told Guardian Australia the cheapest option available was chosen because there were no commercial flights between Tamworth and Avalon.
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The One Nation leader had been in Tamworth for a dinner party on Saturday, October 18, the night before Rinehart’s event, amid speculation about Barnaby Joyce’s defection to the minor right-wing party.
Hanson had been invited to the event by Rinehart, who was to celebrate the official opening of Nicholas Hancock House, an $11 million student housing building for the agricultural business school named “in honor of both sides of Mrs. Rinehart’s family.”
At the event, Hanson told the audience she was “honored” to attend at Rinehart’s “kind invitation.”
“,”unixDate”:1760745600000},{“title”:” “,”date”:”October 19, 2025″,”body”:”
Charter a private jet to fly from Tamworth to Avalon. Details of the published claim show taxpayers were billed $8,870 for the trip, which was described as “a non-commercial airline or non-air travel expense.” Fly Gina Rinehart’s private jet, a Gulfstream G700, from Melbourne to Sydney. There is no cost to taxpayers, but Hanson does not declare the gift in accordance with Senate rules and only correctly updates the record after Guardian Australia publishes details of his undeclared flights.
“,”unixDate”:1760832000000},{“title”:” “,”date”:”October 20, 2025″,”body”:”
Flights from Sydney to Brisbane cost taxpayers $1,090.64.
“,”unixDate”:1760918400000})}”>
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Pauline Hanson Travel Itinerary
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Commercial flights from Sydney to Tamworth cost taxpayers $372.14. Attend a dinner to “celebrate Tamworth.”
Charter a private jet to fly from Tamworth to Avalon. Details of the published claim show taxpayers were billed $8,870 for the trip, which was described as “a non-commercial airline or non-air travel expense.” Fly Gina Rinehart’s private jet, a Gulfstream G700, from Melbourne to Sydney. There is no cost to taxpayers, but Hanson does not declare the gift in accordance with Senate rules and only correctly updates the record after Guardian Australia publishes details of his undeclared flights.
Flights from Sydney to Brisbane cost taxpayers $1,090.64.
Hanson’s spokesperson told Guardian Australia that she attended the event because the university “offers many Queensland students a home from home during their time studying at Australia’s only independent agribusiness and agricultural business management school.”
“He also discussed increases in HECS loans imposed on students attending the university, a private institution that does not receive taxpayer funding,” the spokesperson said.
During a question and answer session at the event, Victorian Liberal MLC Bev McArthur asked Hanson about a federal levy imposed on the Fee-Help scheme for students enrolled at private universities.
Hanson responded that “we are overloaded in this country.”
“If I were One Nation, we would get rid of the payroll tax and a lot of these other taxes we have. It’s something I need to look into further. I wasn’t aware of it, so I’ll do it. Thanks for letting me know.”
Rinehart had donated $2 million to the university, where students pay more than $70,000 a year for tuition and on-campus housing. She was expected at the event, but she did not attend.
However, Rinehart’s private jet flew from Perth to Melbourne on the same day, ostensibly to pick up Hanson. Guardian Australia previously revealed the Queensland senator flew to Sydney from Melbourne’s Essendon Airport in Rinehart’s Gulfstream G700 earlier in the day, something Hanson had failed to declare within the time frame required by parliamentary rules.
Hanson’s office said the senator traveled to Essendon airport in a rental car.
Spending data shows the Queensland senator flew back to Brisbane from Sydney on Monday, October 20, at a cost of $1,090.64.
Asked at a news conference in Adelaide last month if he had received any flights or transfers from Hancock Prospecting to or from the October 19 event, Hanson initially said: “No… if you’re going to try to say I’m being funded by Gina Rinehart, the answer is no.”
Asked again if he received any flights or transfers to or from the event, Hanson responded, “I don’t remember.”
It updated the record the same day, following the Guardian Australia report. Last year, the senator also failed to adequately disclose 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 $66 million Palm Beach mansion.
Hanson’s use of taxpayer-funded travel has previously been the subject of an assurance review by the independent spending watchdog after she claimed almost $5,000 to attend Gina Rinehart’s 70th birthday party in Perth in 2024.
His office provided diary entries showing that he met with senior executives at Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, which were used to justify that the trip was related to his parliamentary duties. She was acquitted of any crime.
