Three high-profile fund managers who once backed the Liberal Party have donated a combined $300,000 to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation after being enticed by an offer from Gina Rinehart to attend a private dinner with US President Donald Trump.
Douglas Tynan of GCQ Funds Management, Ben Cleary of Tribeca Investment Partners, and Angus Aitken of Aitken Mount Capital Partners told The Australian they had each pledged $100,000 to Senator Pauline Hanson’s party.
The three donors reached their agreement on December 17 during a private lunch aboard The World, a 644-foot luxury residential vessel shared by 165 ultra-wealthy families.
Mrs Rinehart, Hanson, and the fund managers were all present at the lunch.
Mr Cleary organised the lunch after the Bondi terror attack, praising Hanson’s firm ‘stand against antisemitism’.
The revelation comes amid the Coalition’s second major rupture in under a year, as pressure mounts on Sussan Ley following a Newspoll that showed One Nation outpolling the Coalition on primary votes for the first time.
Mr Aitken said One Nation’s stronger conservative identity was drawing in disillusioned Liberal voters.
‘The Liberals are too focused on chasing back inner-city teal seats with middle-of-the-road policies, rather than appealing to hardworking suburban Australians who are being smashed by the government on everything from housing to energy costs,’ Aitken told The Australian.
Pauline Hanson (right) and Gina Rinehart (left) pictured at a 2024 One Nation fundraiser
The fundraising deal took place aboard The World, a 644-foot luxury vessel (pictured)
‘That’s why One Nation is winning over so many former lifelong Liberal voters as the party of common sense. I won’t be donating another dollar to the federal Liberal Party.
‘Most of them couldn’t even agree to walk away from net zero – they’re absolutely cooked as a party.’
The donor shock has sent waves through the federal Liberal Party.
One senior Liberal source told the Daily Mail they were increasingly concerned that One Nation, which they described as a ‘fringe outlet’, was gaining legitimacy in business circles.
Traditionally, the Liberals have relied on strong support from the corporate sector.
Last year, Hanson took centre stage at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
During her visit, Hanson drew cheers for a fiery speech in which she praised Trump’s leadership, aligned herself with his tough immigration stance, and blasted Australia’s major parties, accusing them of turning the country into an ‘economic and social tinderbox’.
Hanson was also photographed attending Trump’s Halloween party alongside Mrs Rinehart and stayed at Mar-a-Lago for the duration of the conference.
She is also known to be friendly with UK Reform leader and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.
Hanson’s recent political rise closely echoes Farage’s surge in the UK, where Reform is now polling ahead of both the Conservative opposition and the Labour government.
