It’s time to once again spin the roulette wheel of Australian political chaos, and today we have….Pauline Hanson…with the…secret recordings…about…a light aircraft. Ok.

Over the past few weeks, Hanson and One Nation have been at the centre of a growing controversy involving allegations of political donations not being properly declared to authorities. But these aren’t your regular kind of donations. We’re talking a whole private plane.

The key words are as intriguing as their origin stories are convoluted, so we have broken it down (in as much as the non-stop shambles of our current political situation can be broken down) to try and make some sense of this mad drama.

The Players

Pauline Hanson: Australian politician, most recently known for being smacked down by ASIO for, among other things, asking if “Middle Eastern refugees” are bringing terrorism to Australia. Jog on, buddy.

James Ashby: Hanson’s top(gun) adviser. The alleged owner and pilot of the plane.

Bill McNee: Millionaire developer, recently revealed to be the actual donor of the plane.

Ian Nelson: Former One Nation treasurer and alleged source of leaked phone call recordings.

Ron McLean and Marye Louise Daniels: Former One Nation power couple (lol), until their sacking — which they claim is because McLean was “too old” (he is 87). Witnesses to McNee blatantly saying he bought the plane for One Nation.

What Happened

Basically, during the 2016 election campaign, Pauline Hanson had access to a light aircraft emblazoned with the words “One Nation” alongside a zany depiction of her head because sure, why not.

The plane supposedly belonged to her top adviser James Ashby, who also piloted the plane. About a month ago, former One Nation treasurer, Ian Nelson, claimed on the ABC’s Four Corners that the plane was in fact a donation from a millionaire developer, Bill McNee, and had recordings to prove it. This was backed up by former One Nation power couple, Ron McLean and Marye Louise Daniels, who told Four Corners that they were told by McNee himself that he donated the plane.

McNee denied the donation and One Nation scrambled to say that everything was on the up and up at their end, and that no electoral laws had been broken by failure to declare this donation. Now the recording has been made public, and reveals a panicked conversation between Nelson and Hanson about The Australian potentially running a story about McNee donating the money for the office and the plane. Their main goal seems to be discovering who leaked the information.

One Nation is now running defence, blaming embittered past employees trying to seek revenge, saying that they’ve done nothing wrong and that no lies have been told. An Australian Electoral Commission investigation is happening. McNee continues to claim he didn’t donate the plane.

Timeline Of Events

July 2015: Text messages between McNee and One Nation updating him on the progress of painting “One Nation” and a picture of Hanson on the plane he apparently didn’t donate.

November 2016: Phone call between Nelson and Hanson about rumours The Australian would be running a story about McNee donating money for the office and the plane. Pair wonder who could be the source of the leak because, according to Hanson, “There was only the four of us who knew. It was tight-knit.”

January 2017: Hanson tells Sky News the plane belongs to the party,

February 2017: Ron McLean and Marye Louise Daniels sacked from One Nation.

April 2017: Nelson claims on Four Corners that McNee paid for Hanson’s One Nation Plane and that James Ashby was actually the pilot; says he also has recordings.

McLean and Daniels follow this up, saying that McNee told them that he donated the plane.

McNee has no comment at this stage.

Ashsy, presumably in the voice of a toddler chucking a wobbly, releases a statement: “My company bought the plane. It’s the second plane I’ve owned. I’ve very capable of buying my own planes.”

Ashby and Hanson decline to respond to Four Corners‘ questions.

May 2017: Recording from November 2016 made public. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tells Parliament that he has spoken about the allegations against One Nation with the Federal Police Commissioner, saying “the matter is in hand”.

An angry Hanson waved away journalist questions outside parliament today, in a vain attempt at the “quick look over there while I escape” manoeuvre. Invoking both the potential impact of the cold weather on our homeless population and the tragic killing of Queensland police officer, Brett Forte, Hanson said:

“I cannot believe you would ask me some stupid questions like that when I have had a gentleman who’s been shot dead in his electorate. We have people homeless in the cold weather like this, we have the state of this country and you’re worried about that from some disgruntled people?”

Senator @PaulineHansonOz is not happy that she's been asked to please explain her plane donation. #auspol @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/c6tnFAzxJ6

— David Sharaz (@DavidSharaz) May 29, 2017

Hey, it’s nice to know she cares about people! Well, at least when caring about them is a convenient distraction from her own controversies. “I think it’s disgusting,” Hanson said, accidentally providing meta-commentary on how gross it is that she is trying to use the suffering of others as a distraction from her own mess.

What Next?

It’s hard to know. We need to see what happens with the AEC investigation and whether it turns out any rules were broken. In terms of bad publicity — this all seems like strangely specific and complicated drops in an already murky ocean. In the meantime, I guess we’ll be waiting to see how she finds a way to blame all of this on a minority group.

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Feature image: One Nation/Facebook.

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Elizabeth Flux is a freelance writer and editor with a focus on film and pop culture. She tweets terrible puns @ElizabethFlux.