Barnaby Joyce says there’s no conflict of interest between One Nation and the mining billionaire Gina Rinehart after it was revealed that Australia’s richest woman had bought a new multimillion-dollar Brisbane office for the minor party to lease. The One Nation MP said the party’s national head office would pay the market rate to Rinehart’s company to rent the space, claiming there would be no mate’s rates. We’re leasing it off her at commercial rates.
It’s believed to be valued at about $8m, according to The Australian. Property data shows it was last sold for $2.4m in 2003. The building has two floors with 10 parking spaces at its lower level.
The sale ad boasts it comes with a “large top-floor balcony with sweeping city views”. Joyce said One Nation would pay for the office space out of the party’s “wallet”. A spokesperson for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting said: “Hancock Prospecting holds a range of commercial property, and this building is one of them.
Hancock is not providing free or discounted space to any outside tenant, political or otherwise.” Guardian Australia has contacted One Nation for a response. Pauline Hanson’s relationship with Rinehart has been the subject of the Guardian’s new podcast about the party, The Populist, which detail numerous instances when the Queensland senator and the party she leads have received gifts or benefits. Guardian Australia revealed last month that Hanson and Joyce stayed overnight at Rinehart’s $20m Brisbane mansion in April after fundraising events held for One Nation.
On one occasion, Joyce conducted a live television interview with Channel Seven’s Sunrise program from a room that appears to be a bedroom in Rinehart’s home. Joyce told News24 on Monday he hadn’t spoken to Rinehart in six months. The reporting also revealed that Hanson has been using one of Rinehart’s bodyguards for her personal security.
The man, who has been seen escorting Hanson in Perth and Canberra, has been one of Rinehart’s closest bodyguards for more than a decade. One Nation has also committed multiple breaches of Senate rules, with the party failing to declare a number of flights gifted by Hancock Prospecting to Hanson going back to August last year, including flights to attend a Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida and Donald Trump’s Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago. Hanson has said she considers Rinehart an unofficial policy adviser to her and One Nation.
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