Pauline Hanson's One Nation withdrew $809,648.11 from its election spending claims after the Australian Electoral Commission questioned 143 items. The commission is examining whether the party breached electoral funding laws regarding payments to certain suppliers.
The withdrawn amount constituted almost 15% of the party's $6.01 million public funding claim. One Nation had lodged a claim for just over $6 million in July of the previous year, based on its 6.4% national vote and Senate performance in the last election.
A senior compliance officer from the Australian Electoral Commission queried the claim in late October. Alex Jones, the operations manager for Pauline Hanson's One Nation, stated in an email that the party sought more time to assess the queries. "I wish to voluntarily withdraw the 143 items which have been queried totalling $809,648.11 from the party's interim claim, to allow us more time to assess the queries and provide appropriate responses for each in the party's final claim," Jones said.
One Nation submitted its final claim in November. Freedom of information laws led to the redaction of details concerning One Nation's final claim and its response to the 143 queried items. The Australian Electoral Commission would not grant access to documents listing items of electoral expenditure; it stated that releasing these details could influence or jeopardize the compliance review process. The commission also stated it did not want to release supplier information because it may compromise an ongoing investigation into the party's financial compliance.
Pauline Hanson is the party's registered agent. She would face criminal penalties if she submitted an incomplete, false, or misleading claim to a commonwealth entity. One Nation was forced to pay back election funding following both the 2019 and 2022 elections.
In 2021, the Australian Electoral Commission subjected Pauline Hanson to an enforceable undertaking. This undertaking found that Hanson had claimed approximately $165,000 in expenses that were not electoral expenditure or for spending that had not been incurred. Also in 2021, the NSW Electoral Commission denied funding claims made by One Nation after finding the party incorrectly claimed $118,000 in taxpayer funds for the purchase of electoral material.
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