One Nation's Fire the Liar counter passed $2 million on Thursday afternoon, and the Prime Minister's response was to suggest it isn't real. Asked by reporters about Pauline Hanson smashing him in the fundraising race, Anthony Albanese offered "Oh, did she, though? Did she, though? Did she?" Pressed on whether he believed the figure, he replied, "Well, you work it out."

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Albo in denial as One Nation opens its books

The denial came with no counter evidence, because Labor has published none. The government's $27 campaign against One Nation, the one that started this fight, has no live tally, no running disclosure and no published total. Sky News' own political correspondent, reporting the story, noted the obvious resolution: it's entirely plausible, this sort of fundraising has been seen before, and the best way to settle it is to open up to scrutiny.

One Nation got there first. The party is pursuing an independent audit of the donation drive, revealed by Sky News today and described to the network as a priority. The audit may include a software engineer examining the code underlying the website's payment systems, who would then sign a statutory declaration affirming the dollars raised are accurate. James Ashby confirmed the party is happy to have the website independently audited by a forensics team to verify the donations are real.

The breakdown a senior One Nation official provided to Sky News: more than 28,000 individual donors, an average donation of $59, and a largest single contribution of $15,000, which still sits below the threshold that triggers AEC disclosure rules. As Sky's correspondent put it, the drive runs on One Nation's own website rather than a platform like GoFundMe, so there's no public ledger of Janice from Blacktown donating $20, but there is a counter anyone can watch, which is more than Labor's campaign offers.

It wasn't the Prime Minister's first brush off of the campaign. Asked about it in Melbourne on Wednesday, he said he'd "let Pauline Hanson engage in negative activity. What I'm doing here is actually doing something real for people, and that's the difference. Promoting division takes the country nowhere." The negative activity has since outraised him, on Hanson's account, by roughly a hundred to one.

Goal lifted three times as counter passes $2 million

The website launched at 6.04am Wednesday with a $1 million target, a direct reply to Labor's social media ads asking supporters for $27 to stop One Nation turning polling momentum into seats. One Nation spoofed Labor's black, white and orange ad format, asked for $29 instead, and earmarked the money for billboards, TV and radio in Labor held seats, including the Prime Minister's own electorate of Grayndler. The site's pitch doesn't mince words: "Albo thinks $27 buys him the right to silence us. We think Australians deserve a real choice." Beneath it sits a list of what the party says Albanese lied about, from immigration levels and the axed Stage 3 tax cuts to the Voice, the $275 electricity price promise, and falling off a stage.

One Nation, via donate.onenation.org.au - Fire the Liar counter hits $2,115,426 against a goal lifted to $2.3 million on Thursday.

The money has not stopped since:

  • $500,000 by midday Wednesday, a milestone reported across 2GB, 6PR and 9News
  • $946,099 by 6.30pm on launch day, with the donations page crashing several times under traffic before coming back online
  • Past $1 million inside a day, with the goal lifted to $1.5 million and $1,120,430 on the board by Wednesday night
  • $1,835,213 by Thursday morning, goal lifted to $2 million
  • $2,023,465 by Thursday afternoon on the live counter, goal lifted again to $2.1 million

Contributions between $2 and $1,500 are tax deductible, and the page now offers quick pick amounts up to $5,000 ahead of the 30 June deadline. Barnaby Joyce summed up the party's view of Labor's original ads on Sky News: "If they want to give us a free kick in front of the posts to talk about what a terrible job they are doing, then we will take it."

Hanson says Labor's rival drive raised about $20,000

Fronting the press after a business breakfast in Perth, Hanson dismissed the Prime Minister's doubts flatly.

"Everyone who donates should get a receipt sent back to them. So very legitimate. Why would I put it all out?" He can't even believe it himself. I heard on the grapevine he's only received about $20,000 for the Labor Party, so he can't imagine One Nation getting the support that we have."

Labor hasn't confirmed or denied the figure. If her grapevine is right, the government's campaign has been outraised roughly a hundred to one, which might explain why there's no counter on their website.

Hanson told 6PR on Wednesday she was blown away by the response. "It clearly tells you people aren't against One Nation, they want the Labor Party gone, and that's why people are donating to the party, to give us a war chest to actually fight the Labor Party." She promised the money would be used wisely and not wasted.

Image: Sky News Australia.

McKenzie torches PM's double standard

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie, appearing on Sky News' NewsDay from Wodonga, didn't bother with diplomacy. "What an own goal by Albo," she said.

"He thought he was so clever putting out the Labor Party fundraising email, only to receive fire directly back. Australians are putting their money where they believe Albo has lied to them, that they are worse off under him, and the budget isn't working for them or making their future any brighter."

Asked whether the Prime Minister was within his rights to demand One Nation prove the figures, McKenzie pointed at the source of the demand.

"Really, seriously? This guy lied to the Australian people prior to the last election. He said he was not going to be making the tax changes that he has literally just delivered four weeks ago. Australians are feeling very ripped off, trust is diminishing as a result of his behaviour. With Albanese, she said, it's never his fault, he never takes responsibility, and part of being a leader is taking responsibility for the bad decisions as well as the good ones. As for One Nation's books: "I don't need to see receipts."

Then came the challenge. If the Prime Minister wants political parties publishing real time donation data, she said, he can start with how much the CFMEU has donated to individual Labor ministers and MPs. McKenzie put exactly that question on notice to the entire Labor ministry at Senate estimates. What came back was the public declaration forms, not the per MP figures she asked for.

Image: Sky News Australia. Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie speaks to Sky News' NewsDay host Kieran Gilbert.

The chamber has been no more forthcoming. The CFMEU's $4.3 million in donations to the Labor Party is stated on the parliamentary record, raised in Question Time by the then Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher, who asked what else the union would get from the government that took its money and abolished the ABCC, the building watchdog that prosecuted the union's lawbreaking. The Speaker forced Fletcher to rephrase twice, Leader of the House Tony Burke intervened both times, and the question was ruled out of order before the Prime Minister had to answer it. The CFMEU's construction division was later placed under administration following revelations of corruption and bikie infiltration.

"Fair game, PM," McKenzie said. "You want us all to do that? You start."

Liberal frontbencher floats non-compete deal with One Nation

While Labor questioned One Nation's money, the Liberals were eyeing its votes. Shadow government waste minister Tony Pasin, a member of Angus Taylor's shadow frontbench and a key figure in getting Taylor to the leadership, told The Australian the two parties should work hand in glove to defeat the Labor government. "We should work together to identify which seats are more appropriately targeted by a One Nation candidate or a Liberal," he said.

Image: Sky News Australia. NewsDay reports Tony Pasin's call for a seat deal with One Nation on Thursday.

It's a telling offer from a party polling roughly 10 points behind the one it wants a deal with. Pasin is proposing to split a pie One Nation is currently on track to take whole.

The idea set the cat among the pigeons inside the Liberal party room, with one figure describing it to Sky News as "a Tony Pasin production. Taylor shot it down within hours:

"No, there's no plan to carve up seats. We won't be doing that... what we will be doing is focusing on a Labor government that's taking this country in the wrong direction, with higher taxes, with less houses, with immigration that has not been in line with our housing supply, and with an energy system that is broken. That will be our focus, it won't be carving up seats."

One Nation hasn't needed to respond. When you're leading the primary vote, the deals come to you.

MSM discovers tickets cost money at Hanson's Perth business breakfast

Hanson's Perth morning came with its own media sideshow. The press pack cried foul after the Swan Chamber of Commerce asked journalists to pay $60 a head to attend its business breakfast with the One Nation leader, the same ticket price as everyone else in the room. The ABC reported it as the media being "booted," noting it's unusual for journalists to be asked to pay for access, while conceding in the same item that One Nation allowed two outlets to film the event without paying and that the door policy belonged to the chamber. The party's WA leader, Rod Caddies, stopped for the waiting press and said it was up to the chamber how it wanted to handle its own event.

Hanson went straight in without taking questions. After Wednesday evening's Perth Airport effort, where a Channel Nine reporter read her questions off a phone and asked why Hanson didn't fly on Gina's jet and whether she flew cattle class, it's not hard to see why she's stopped handing out free content.

Hanson backs Whitten: "No section 44 whatsoever"

Hanson also used the Perth press conference to stand behind WA senator Tyron Whitten, who's facing claims his family company's Snowy Hydro contract puts him in breach of section 44 of the Constitution. The Australian has reported that Whittens Group, the construction company Whitten co founded with his brother in 2001, signed a $75 million deal with Commonwealth owned Snowy Hydro in October 2024, and that Whitten amended his register of interests after the paper contacted him. Hanson said:

"We've got legal advice on it and he's very strong. There's no section 44 whatsoever, there is absolutely no question about my eligibility to serve in Parliament."

The party's argument cuts to the legal weak spot in the claims. Snowy Hydro is a public company, not a government department, and whether a contract with a Commonwealth owned corporation even triggers section 44 has never been tested in the High Court. For now it's media reporting and expert speculation, with no referral, no court, and no finding. Scrutiny that has, conveniently, arrived in the same week the party's fundraising broke records.

Ashby takes Fire the Liar to Sky News

Ashby capped the campaign's first day with a late night Sky News appearance, saying Fire the Liar is designed to "push back" against Labor's ability to lie to Australians without consequence. If Labor hoped the $27 ads would fly under the radar, the plan has backfired spectacularly: the party that wanted to quietly fundraise against One Nation handed Hanson wall to wall coverage on every network in the country instead.

Ashby also cheerfully admitted the slogan wasn't his. "You wouldn't believe it, but I was talking to Peta Credlin and I was watching her show and I stole it off her. Nothing quite like a borrowed line right then," he told the ABC.

Next stop Victoria: Hanson and Joyce headline Moonee Ponds

The national tour rolls into Victoria on Friday night, with Hanson and Joyce headlining An Evening for Victoria, a cocktail fundraiser at Casa Giorgio in Moonee Ponds billed as bringing together business leaders, community figures and supporters seeking a stronger direction for the state. It follows Wednesday's sold out Sundowner in Midland, where Hanson appeared alongside Whitten, Caddies and state MP Phil Scott while police kept a WA Socialists protest at a distance.

The campaign runs until 30 June. The counter is still climbing.

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