Key facts
- Pauline Hanson's One Nation party withdrew over $800,000 in claimed electoral expenditure after AEC inquiries.
- The party withdrew 143 queried items totaling $809,648.11 from its interim claim.
- The AEC is investigating potential breaches of electoral funding laws related to payments to certain suppliers.
- This is not the first time One Nation has faced scrutiny over its public funding claims.
- The AEC has refused to release specific documents related to the claim, citing an ongoing investigation.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has questioned Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party regarding over $800,000 in claimed electoral expenditure for the last federal election. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal that these inquiries prompted the party to withdraw more than 140 items from its claim. This represents nearly 15% of the party’s total $6.01 million public funding claim.
The AEC is now examining whether the party breached electoral funding laws concerning payments made to certain suppliers that were included in the claim. This review comes as One Nation continues to receive significant funding, including over $7 million following its success in the South Australian election.
Pauline Hanson, as the party's registered agent, could face criminal penalties for submitting an incomplete, false, or misleading claim. One Nation has a history of wrongly claiming public funding, having been required to repay election funds twice previously, after the 2019 and 2022 elections. In 2021, Hanson was subjected to an enforceable undertaking by the AEC for claiming approximately $165,000 in expenses that were not electoral expenditure or had not been incurred. The NSW Electoral Commission also denied a claim of $118,000 for electoral material in 2021.
Following the party's lodgement of its claim for just over $6 million in July last year, the AEC queried 143 expense items. A senior compliance officer requested further information, such as detailed descriptions of goods and services and the dominant purpose of the expenditure. In response, One Nation's operations manager, Alex Jones, stated the party would "voluntarily withdraw" the queried items to allow more time to assess the queries and provide appropriate responses for the final claim.
The AEC has refused to release two key documents detailing the party's funding claim and supplier information, citing that disclosure could compromise an ongoing investigation into the accuracy of the claim and potentially jeopardize the investigation by forewarning third parties. The regulator stated that disclosing supplier identities could prejudice the investigation and the proper administration of the law.