Billionaire Gina Rinehart donates yet another plane after gifting Pauline Hanson $2.1million jet. u1
Billionaire Gina Rinehart donates yet another plane after gifting Pauline Hanson $2.1million jet
Australia’s richest woman has donated a plane to The Royal Flying Doctor Service just weeks after gifting a Cirrus SR22 G7 to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Billionaire Gina Rinehart funded a new Pilatus PC-12 PRO aircraft at the Jandakot base in Western Australia through her Rinehart Medical Foundation and Hancock Iron Ore.
The new plane is the first of its kind in the charity’s WA fleet and will progressively replace the eight ageing PC-12 aircraft it currently possesses.
The aircraft – which is faster, safer, and has better range and efficiency – will allow the RFDS to continue providing essential care to those living, working and travelling in the state without nearby medical services.
The mining magnate said faster aircraft were ‘essential’ in a state where ‘distance and time can mean the difference between life and death’.
‘It’s great to welcome a faster aircraft, the first of the new PC-12 PRO aircraft to Western Australia,’ she said in a statement.
‘The work of the Flying Doctor undoubtedly saves countless lives each year across our rural communities and vast state.
‘For the many families in remote areas, this service is essential.’
Australia’s richest woman has donated a plane to The Royal Flying Doctor Service just months after she handed One Nation’s Pauline Hanson a $2.1million private jet
The new plane (pictured) is the first of its kind in the charity’s WA fleet and will progressively replace the eight ageing PC-12 aircraft it currently possesses
Mrs Rinehart has been a long time advocate of the RFDS, having previously given millions of dollars to the charity.
In July 2023, she donated $4million to the service, which went towards equipping its then new Beechcraft King Air 360 aircraft and upgrading its Brisbane base.
It comes after Hanson shared a video on April 29 showing off the ‘sexy’ Cirrus SR22 G7 plane, worth AU$2.1million.
Hancock Prospecting, owned by Rinehart, confirmed the plane was donated to One Nation by one of Rinehart’s companies, rather than the billionaire personally.
‘Yes it was donated. Yes I’m super happy. Yes it’s fast. Yes it’s amazing. Yes it means I can visit more regional towns across the country more often. Yes it’s a Cirrus G7. Yes it’s sexy. Yes I have a pilot,’ Hanson wrote.
‘No I won’t be doing Welcome to Country each time we land.
‘No it’s not battery operated.’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers criticised the massive donation and the ‘very close relationship between One Nation and Gina Rinehart’.
Pauline is seen posing with the ‘sexy’ Cirrus SR22 G7 plane, worth AU$2.1million
‘I think Pauline Hanson is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart, and we know this because whenever Pauline Hanson’s asked to vote in the interests of Australian workers, she instead votes in the interests of Gina Rinehart,’ he said.
‘Whether it’s in industrial relations, whether it’s in cost-of-living relief, what we’ve seen again and again from One Nation is they typically vote the way Gina Rinehart wants them to rather than how the workers and battlers of this country need them to.’
The Greens’ Steph Hodgins-May claimed the showy donations was misaligned with the image Hanson projects.
‘One Nation claims to stand for everyday Australians, but openly gloating about being handed a million-dollar private jet tells an entirely different story,’ she said.
‘A plane worth as much as the median Australian home doesn’t come without strings attached.
‘Those strings won’t be pulled by voters, they will be pulled by the billionaire donors.’
