Sleepovers at the billionaire's mansion

Two of Australia's loudest politicians spent the night at Gina Rinehart's Brisbane riverfront house, and parliament never heard about it.

Sep 13, 2026

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Sleepovers at the billionaire's mansion

Two of Australia's loudest politicians spent the night at Gina Rinehart's Brisbane riverfront house, and parliament never heard about it.

In brief

Two of Australia's loudest politicians spent the night at Gina Rinehart's Brisbane riverfront house, and parliament never heard about it. One Nation keeps insisting it gets nothing from Gina Rinehart, while flights, beds and now a bodyguard say otherwise. Originally reported by the Guardian.

A night at Gina's

Cut-outs of Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson over an aerial photo of the property

Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce stayed overnight at Gina Rinehart's $20m Brisbane mansion after fundraising events for One Nation. Neither declared the hospitality.

Live from the spare room

A screenshot of Barnaby Joyce doing an interview from a bedroom

On 13 April, the morning after a fundraiser at the Hawthorne house, Joyce did a live Sunrise interview from what looks like a bedroom inside it.

Then the jet

Both declared flights from Hancock Prospecting that same day. Flight-tracking data puts them on Rinehart's Gulfstream from Brisbane to Sydney that afternoon.

The $300 rule

Parliament requires declaring gifts or hospitality worth over $300, including free accommodation, plus anything that could look like a conflict with public duty.

Joyce: she's a friend

Joyce said Rinehart "was a long-term friend over decades not a motel", and that friends don't charge him. The rules exempt purely social hospitality between friends.

“I will never be ashamed of doing the research to do a better job.”

The borrowed bodyguard

The borrowed bodyguard

Hanson has been using one of Rinehart's closest bodyguards for personal security. A 2013 court case heard he was sent to offer Bianca Rinehart $25m to drop a trust fight.

We've seen no money

Hanson told reporters in February she wasn't funded by Rinehart. National director James Ashby said in December: "We have not seen any money from her."

“We have not seen any money from her.”

Why hide it

Labor's Murray Watt says the concealment points to how closely One Nation's policies track what Rinehart and Hancock want. Hancock says donations will be disclosed as required.

“The level of concealment that goes on suggests a guilty conscience.”

The takeaway

One Nation keeps insisting it gets nothing from Gina Rinehart, while flights, beds and now a bodyguard say otherwise.

Read the original on the Guardian

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