Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff says his snout wasn’t in the trough

Like most political parties, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is no stranger to political scandals.

But this latest one could land the Senator, her party, and her chief-of-staff in a world of trouble.

A secret recording, obtained by the Courier Mail, has landed Ashby in hot water and led many people to accuse him and the party of trying to profiteer from the upcoming Queensland election.

In the recording, Ashby was heard discussing a strategy for the party to use at the election.

“There is an opportunity for us to make some money on this if we play this smart,” he is heard saying.

“We say to the candidates, we will fund 50 per cent of this [printing] package, so the package might be $5,000 — you’re going to pay $2,500 and we’ll pay the other $2,500 of the $5,000.

“The other $2,500 is the profit. It’s the fat, and I’ll write it off. I don’t want the cash for it.”

But there was more, and its what Ashby added next that has many people in Canberra talking.

He went on to talk about how the party could claim extra public funding from the Electoral Commission.

“When you lodge the receipt at the full price with the Electoral Commission of Queensland you get back the full amount that’s been issued to you as an invoice,” Ashby is heard saying in the recording.

He then goes on to say he will “deny he ever said this”.

Ashby, Hanson and the party are on the defence today, and while he’s not denying what he said, Ashby said One Nation had done nothing wrong.

He told ABC Radio that it was “a poor choice of words” and the secret recording was nothing more than “a brainstorming session”.

“Candidates have never ever been charged any more than a $3,500 package,” he said.

“There is no way of making money off it. There is no profiteering off an election.”

What about Pauline Hanson?

Well, she has also been implicated in the secret recordings.

“They (the candidates) have got to put something forward. They have got to take a hit for this as well.” Hanson is heard saying in the tapes.

“Just look at it (sic) what is the best financial outlook for us, all right, at the end of the day.”

She too has defended Ashby, as has the party’s leader in Queensland Steve Dickson.

He described the reports about the tapes as “fake news”.

“James is a very, very straight forward sort of guy,” he said on ABC Radio.

“What I did hear is that there was an ideas meeting on.

“I have been at plenty of ideas meetings with lots and lots of different people … you get good ideas and you get stupid ideas.”

The secret recordings could lead to investigations of Ashby and One Nation, with Labor Senator Murray Watt calling for the Federal Police, Queensland Police and Queensland Electoral Commission to investigate the recordings.

“If these plans have been carried out they amount to a massive defrauding of taxpayers, a massive abuse of electoral laws,” he told the ABC.

What do you think of this latest One Nation scandal? Should there be an investigation?