# One Nation's gas backflip and the Rinehart question

> Pauline Hanson backed a domestic gas reserve in March. By June it was gone, and her party's biggest donor had a stake in that.
- Title: One Nation's gas backflip and the Rinehart question | Shortify
- Summary: Pauline Hanson backed a domestic gas reserve in March. By June it was gone, and her party's biggest donor had a stake in that. One Nation dropped a policy it…
- Keywords: one nation, gas policy, gina rinehart, donations, australian politics, news, world, One, Nation's, gas, backflip, Rinehart
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/14/one-nation-pauline-hanson-abandoning-gas-reservation-plan-gina-rinehart-relationship-ntwnfb
- Published: 2026-09-14T15:00:10+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: one nation, gas policy, gina rinehart, donations, australian politics, news, world
## A quiet policy reversal
One Nation shelved its support for a domestic gas reservation policy and replaced it with one that suits the party's billionaire patron, Gina Rinehart.
## What Labor is proposing
The Albanese government wants east coast gas exporters to set aside a share of their output for the domestic market, aiming to push consumer prices down.

> modestly supplying the domestic market
## Hanson was for it in March
She moved a Senate motion backing a domestic gas reserve just six months ago, arguing it would lift supply and cut power bills.

> increase the supply of gas and lower the price of electricity directly
## Who opposes the plan
Senex, a $900m company 49% owned by Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and 51% by Korea's POSCO, has fought the reservation policy hard.
## The June switch
One Nation dumped the policy after what it called consultation with industry and stakeholders, saying a reserve would hurt onshore oil and gas development.

> The government's 20% reservation policy will damage onshore development of oil and gas projects.
## A jet and a million dollars
In April the party was gifted an aircraft worth up to $2m from Hancock Prospecting, plus $1m in donations from two of Rinehart's close associates.
## Rivals call it a backflip
Resources minister Madeleine King said the party hoped nobody would notice. Coalition MP Garth Hamilton said the change served donors, not voters.

> This policy backflip must be for the benefit of her donors, because it is not for the benefit of the Australian people
## Questions in the Senate
One Nation's Tyron Whitten pressed officials on the policy using industry arguments. Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May said he was asking on Senex's behalf, which he denied.

> I can't be asking questions on behalf of Gina Rinehart. I've never met the lady.
## Key takeaway

One Nation dropped a policy it championed months earlier, right after a gifted jet and $1m in donations tied to a billionaire whose company opposes the policy.