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

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. 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. …