Pauline Hanson’s One Nation withdrew more than $800,000 of election spending claims after AEC inquiries

An SBS cameraman films Pauline Hanson outside Parliament House. One Nation claims for taxpayer funds after the last election are being reviewed for potential breaches. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP View image in fullscreen An SBS cameraman films Pauline Hanson outside Parliament House. One Nation claims for taxpayer funds after the last election are being reviewed for potential breaches. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Pauline Hanson’s One Nation withdrew more than $800,000 of election spending claims after AEC inquiries The Australian Electoral Commission is examining if party breached laws in its $6m public funding claim after the last election, documents show Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Australian Electoral Commission questioned Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party over more than $800,000 of claimed electoral expenditure for the last election, Guardian Australia can reveal. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show that the inquiries prompted the party to withdraw more than 140 items as it sought to provide additional information to justify almost 15% of the party’s $6.01m public funding claim. The documents also reveal that the commission is now examining whether the party breached electoral funding laws for payments made to certain suppliers that were reimbursed in the claim. One Nation’s ‘incredibly sloppy’ financial reports reveal more than $1m in missing or worthless assets Read more As the party continues to rake in millions of dollars from supporters, and freshly banks more than $7m after its success at the South Australian election, the party’s claim to taxpayer funds is being reviewed by the regulator for potential breaches. Hanson, as the party’s registered agent, would face criminal penalties if she submitted an “incomplete, false, or misleading claim” to a commonwealth entity, according to the declaration signed by the party leader that accompanied the claim. One Nation has previously been found to have wrongly claimed public funding for electoral expenses and the party has twice been forced to pay back election funding – once after the 2019 election and again after the 2022 election. In 2021 the AEC subjected Hanson to an enforceable undertaking , finding that as the party’s registered agent, she had claimed about $165,000 in expenses that either was “not electoral expenditure” or was for spending “that had not been incurred”. The NSW Electoral Commission has also denied funding claims made by One Nation, finding in 2021 that it incorrectly claimed $118,000 in taxpayer funds for the purchase of electoral material, including merchandising. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The Guardian sought multiple documents One Nation lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission to justify the taxpayer funds it received under public funding arrangements after the 2025 federal election, and correspondence between the party and the regulator about its claim. Based on the 6.4% national vote