One Nation under fire for abandoning gas reservation plan in favour of policy benefiting Gina Rinehart

One Nation has come under fire for quietly shelving support for a new domestic gas reservation policy in preference for a policy that favours the party’s billionaire patron, Gina Rinehart.

The Albanese government has announced it will establish a new reservation policy for Australia’s east coast, requiring gas exporters to supply a portion of the gas they produce to the domestic market. The policy is aimed at “modestly” supplying the domestic market to put downward pressure on prices for consumers.

Pauline Hanson moved a Senate motion as recently as March in support of a domestic gas reserve, saying it would “increase the supply of gas and lower the price of electricity directly”.

But the reservation plan has been vehemently opposed by Senex, a $900m company that is 49% owned by Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, and 51% owned by the Korean company POSCO.

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In June, One Nation abandoned its longstanding support when it unveiled its gas plans after “consultation with industry and stakeholders”, saying the policy risked “killing domestic Australian gas companies”.

The Guardian has been examining Hanson’s gas policy and the party’s relationship with Rinehart in a new podcast series on One Nation, The Populist.

The resources minister, Madeleine King, told the Guardian that One Nation’s decision to abandon its policy suggested it was influenced by the industry’s position.

“One Nation was hoping nobody would notice they had abandoned any form of gas reservation policy,” King said.

“One Nation claims to support Aussie families but the truth is they are always on the side of their big business backers.”

The Coalition is considering supporting the proposal, while the Greens are pushing for a 25% gas export tax instead.

The opposition spokesperson for energy affordability and security, Garth Hamilton, said that the party had “dramatically” changed its position to one that benefited Senex and Rinehart.

“This policy backflip must be for the benefit of her donors, because it is not for the benefit of the Australian people,” he said.

In One Nation’s policy statement in June, it said: “One Nation has previously considered an East Coast gas reservation policy”.

“However, through consultation with industry and stakeholders, it became clear that it fell short of our policy objectives. The government’s 20% reservation policy will damage onshore development of oil and gas projects.”

In April, the party received the gift of a new aircraft worth up to $2m from Hancock Prospecting and $1m in donations from two of Rinehart’s closest associates.

One Nation claims that its policy to encourage joint ventures between government and industry was “effectively removing the need for a reservation policy that risks distorting the market”.

Rinehart and the former Liberal leader Peter Dutton had a disagreement in the lead-up to the last election over the Liberal party’s plan for an east coast gas reservation policy.

In a Senate estimates exchange in June, the One Nation senator Tyron Whitten asked departmental officials about the reservation policy saying the party had “heard from industry that the oversupply model is going to make onshore exploration and development almost impossible economically”.

“Were any of these smaller producers consulted— Comet Ridge, Senex etcetera?” Whitten asked.

The Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May challenged Whitten for “asking questions on behalf of Senex, which is co-owned by Gina Rinehart”.

Whitten said: “I can’t be asking questions on behalf of Gina Rinehart. I’ve never met the lady.”

A spokesperson for Senex said the company and other businesses “engage with all sides of politics to inform policy development and help improve living standards for Australians”.

The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, also took aim at the party, after revelations in the Guardian’s podcast The Populist about Joyce and Hanson staying overnight at her Brisbane mansion.

Plibersek accused One Nation of “just doing Gina Rinehart’s bidding”.

“We’ve seen now that Barnaby’s having sleepovers at Gina’s, he’s being flown around the country in the private jet because he’s doing her bidding,” she said on Monday.

“She’s more than just a friend. She is One Nation’s biggest donor. So, when it comes to same jobs, same pay, making sure people who work in mining, for example, get paid the same, she says no. Gina says no. So One Nation says no.

“When it comes to attacking Andrew Hastie, Gina doesn’t like him. So One Nation doesn’t like him. They attack Andrew Hastie.”

• Listen: The Populist: Aeroplanes and bulldozers | Episode 1 – podcast