Mining magnateGina Rineharthelped the Liberal party raise almost $400,000 at an exclusive dinner on the eve of the federal election campaign, the event’s organiser has revealed, but fallout from the function has left the party embroiled in a public dispute.
Donors paid up to $25,000 to hear Rinehart speak at the 26 March dinner in Melbourne, which has been described as “the party’s most successful event in more than five years”.
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The private dinner’s revenue was disclosed by its organiser, Nadine Jones, in a wrongful dismissal claim related to the event that was submitted to the Fair Work Commission. At the time of the dinner, Jones was working as the executive director of the Victorian Liberals’ fundraising arm, Enterprise Victoria.
The Fair Work Commission dispute comes as the party deals with ongoing public fallout fromMoira Deeming’s successful defamation case against John Pesutto, which could see the former Victorian Liberal leaderbankrupted and disqualified from parliament if he is unable to pay $2.3m in court-ordered costsin the next three weeks.
According to Jones, guests were charged a minimum of $10,000 to attend the dinner with Rinehart, while those sitting at the head of a table were charged $25,000.That figure is more than double the amount the party charged supportersto dine with Peter Dutton earlier this year.
“On 26 March 2025, I organised and delivered a dinner featuringGina Rinehartas guest speaker,” Jones’s statement said. “It was the party’s most financially successful event in more than five years, raising more than $385,000.”
In another part of her statement, she said they raised “$370,000+ from the Rineheart dinner alone.”
Jones’s statement said the period leading up to the election was a “critical time for any political party to secure funding”. It said she and Enterprise Victoria’s committee “undertook extensive planning in preparation for the election campaign”.
Guardian Australia has been told by donors that some invitations were issued over the phone and not in writing. Donors also independently verified the ticket price cited by Jones.
In her statement to the Fair Work Commission, Jones said the dinner was a success apart from “one notable exception”. She alleges the Victorian Liberal president, Philip Davis, wrongly referenced Rinehart as “a champion of Netball Australia”.
“Philip introduced Ms Rinehart by reference to her generous support of Netball Australia, which had ceased some years before causing a media storm, following which Ms Rinehart’s chief executive stepped in to correct the president’s very public and embarrassing gaffe”.
Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting withdrew its $15m funding from Netball Australia in October 2022 afterseveral players raised concerns about its record on Indigenous affairs. At the time, Hancock Prospecting issued a statement saying it was “unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes”.
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Rinehart, Davis and the Fair Work Commission were contacted for comment.
Jones told the Fair Work Commission that on the day after the dinner, she was “stood down, effective immediately” by the state director and accused of engaging in three instances of “serious misconduct” that she denies.
An email from the party’s state director, Stuart Smith, accused Jones of providing discounted tickets to the Rinehart dinner to select guests without permission and providing confidential information about donors and finances to an external party on two occasions. The email was included as an attachment in Jones’ submission to the Fair Work Commission.
A spokesperson for the VictorianLiberal partysaid they received a copy of Jones’s wrongful dismissal submission from the Fair Work Commission on Monday afternoon.
The party has rejected claims that Jones’s employment was terminated for any reason other than alleged misconduct.
But Jones disagrees and told the commission that “all three allegations are groundless” and were “raised only after the president’s embarrassment at the Rinehart event”.