Pauline Hanson claimed $16,000 for private charter despite claiming floods tour was at ‘no cost to taxpayer’

Pauline Hanson billed taxpayers almost $16,000 in private charter flights to travel around flood-affected Queensland on the suggestion of billionaire Gina Rinehart, despite previously claiming the trip was at “no cost to the taxpayer”.In January, Hanson and Barnaby Joyce flew on Rinehart’s luxury Gulfstream G700 from the Sunshine Coast to Mount Isa, after which they travelled on charter flights to flood-affected communities around Julia Creek to meet local mayors.Explaining her reasons for the trip, Hanson told the 2 Worlds Collide podcast in February she and Joyce had accepted an offer from Rinehart to fly them up to visit the area.“Barnaby and I were visiting her [Rinehart] in Queensland and of course the floods happened up in Julia Creek,” Hanson said.“She said ‘I think you should go up to Julia Creek, and I said ‘yeah, I would love to’. She said, ‘I will take you and Barnaby up there, I think you need to go up there and see these people, isolated, and what’s happening up there’. And she said ‘I will fly you up there’, which she did at her expense and flew us up.”The host, Sam Bamford, emphasised that the trip was “not at the taxpayer’s expense”.“No – no cost to the taxpayer!” Hanson replied.Bamford then lambasted critics of Hanson’s use of Rinehart’s private jet, suggesting other billionaires were also involved in supporting political parties in Australia. The Guardian has reported on multiple flights taken by the One Nation senator gifted by Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting throughout 2025 that were not declared in line with Senate rules.In response to Bamford’s comments, Hanson questioned whether people would accept “that we flew up on a plane that was actually paid by the taxpayer”.“No cost to the taxpayer, what is your problem?”In January, Joyce also defended the use of Rinehart’s plane, saying: “I’ve got no problems with that at all. Would people prefer the taxpayer pay for it?”Parliamentary expense reports published this week show that Hanson billed taxpayers for three private flights between Mount Isa and Cloncurry, Cloncurry and Julia Creek, and Julia Creek to Mount Isa on 10 January. The cost of the three flights totalled $15,990. It is unclear which company provided the private charter.Under the rules governing use of taxpayer-funded travel, MPs and senators must ensure their claims meet the “dominant purpose test” of parliamentary business, and “must use public resources for parliamentary business in a way that achieves value for money”.According to Hanson’s register of interests, Hancock Prospecting provided flights between the Sunshine Coast and Mount Isa on the same day.Hanson has also previously billed taxpayers $9,000 for a flight from Tamworth to Avalon in October last year to attend an event at a private agricultural college honouring Rinehart.Hanson said that in encouraging her visit to Julia Creek, Rinehart had done “something for the community” saying she would not have visited the region had it not been for the mining magnate’s advice.“She did something for the community, what is she going to get out of it? Absolutely nothing,” she told the podcast.Hanson praised Rinehart for purchasing “bags and bags” of Tim Tams and chocolates which she then handed out to the community.“As soon as I arrived I said ‘we are only here because of Gina Rinehart’, and I said ‘these bags of Tim Tams and everything is not from us, it is from Gina Rinehart’.”Hanson has come under growing pressure for her relationship with Australia’s richest person, and has repeatedly defended receiving multiple free flights from Hancock Prospecting.At a press conference in March, Hanson said “The flights are of no cost to the taxpayer. That’s what I don’t get. It didn’t cost the taxpayer a cent for me to fly on a plane.”Hanson announced last month she had been given a “sexy” new plane by Rinehart, along with $2m in donations from three of Rinehart’s close associates.One Nation did not respond to a request for comment.