Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has complied with a request from the Queensland regulator to file three years of overdue financial returns.
The party was sent a demand from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) last month to submit the missing returns by 18 August or face compliance action.
An OFT spokesperson told the Guardian on Wednesday that the returns were filed after business hours on Tuesday, ahead of the midnight deadline. They said:
double quotation markOne Nation Queensland Division Inc has now lodged audited financial statements for the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, as required by the Associations Incorporation Act 1981.
The Office of Fair Trading has notified One Nation Queensland Division Inc that any future failures to lodge annual returns within prescribed time limits may result in enforcement action.
Under the act, members of the management committee of an incorporated association must ensure financial statements are lodged for the association’s last reportable financial year.
Any further breaches could expose Hanson and the New South Wales One Nation senator, Sean Bell, to financial penalties for failing to comply with state legal requirements and could see the party struck off the state register of incorporated associations.
Guardian Australia has previously revealed that the party has repeatedly failed to meet the legal requirements for running an incorporated association in Queensland, including failing to hold annual general meetings on time and filing annual and financial reports late.
Returns filed until 2022, obtained by the Guardian and analysed by a leading accounting expert, revealed more than $1m in missing or worthless assets, which the party has refused to explain.
