Cory Bernardi repays more than $40,000 for flying on Gina Rinehart’s plane during SA election campaign

One Nation’s South Australian leader has paid back Australia’s richest person for private flights he took while campaigning in the state’s recent election.

Cory Bernardi confirmed on Saturday that he had reimbursed a “substantial” sum of money to Gina Rinehart’s company S Kidman & Co, to comply with new state laws that prohibit political parties and candidates from receiving electoral donations or gifts from individuals, businesses or unions.

Bernardi, who was elected to South Australia’s legislative council in March, said he had no regrets about accepting Rinehart’s offer of flights between Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Maitland and Coober Pedy during the campaign, which cost him “in excess of $40,000”.

“It was worth every cent to ensure that the remote and regional communities could have their voice heard and talk with the state and federal leaders of One Nation,” he said in a statement.

“It’s great to be part of a team that recognises and respects those who feel they have been left behind by the uniparty duopoly. One Nation is, and will continue to be, the strongest voice for all South Australians.”

Bernardi said he paid the “account” after receiving an invoice “some weeks ago”.

One Nation’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson, accompanied Bernardi on the 14 and 15 March flights. On her federal register of interests, she thanked S Kidman & Co’s chief executive, Adam Giles.

“Wonderful catching a flight that doesn’t try and welcome me to my own country each time it touches down,” she wrote.

Under the South Australian Electoral Act, a ban on corporate donations and the $5,000 individual cap for new entrants and some incumbents only applies to gifts used for state election purposes.

If a donation or gift is classified as being for a federal purpose, it falls under commonwealth law, so Hanson might have been within her rights to claim the gift of flights across SA as part of her federal duties or national party leadership.

When later questioned about whether the gift breached South Australia’s $5,000 donation cap, she deflected responsibility by claiming she was merely a “passenger” and that the financial liability was a matter for Bernardi alone.

Hanson has been forced to update her register at least five times in the past six months to include previously undeclared travel gifted by Rinehart’s companies, including a private jet trip to Florida to attend a conservative conference.

The senator has publicly maintained her party was not financially reliant on Rinehart and her companies, stating in February: “If you are going to try to say that I am being funded by Gina Rinehart, the answer is no.”

Barnaby Joyce, who defected from the Nationals to One Nation last year, has that Rinehart was a donor to the party.