TLDR
Queensland's Office of Fair Trading has given One Nation until 18 August 2026 to lodge three years of audited financial statements or face cancellation of its incorporated association status. The party filed annual returns on 3 July but left out the audited accounts the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 actually requires. Officers including registered president Pauline Hanson and NSW senator Sean Bell face personal fines if the deadline is not met. Losing incorporated status would not strip the party of its right to contest elections, which sits under a separate law.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Regulator sets hard deadline
Queensland's Office of Fair Trading has given One Nation Queensland Division Inc until 18 August 2026 to produce audited financial statements for three consecutive financial years, or face being struck off as an incorporated association. The regulator issued the direction in June 2026, covering the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025.verifiedVerified Source: theguardian.com[1]
One Nation did respond to the regulator, just not completely. A Queensland Office of Fair Trading spokesperson said: "One Nation Queensland Division Inc has lodged its annual returns to the OFT for the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, but these returns did not include the audited financial statements as required by the Associations Incorporation Act 1981." The spokesperson said: "The Office of Fair Trading has given the association until 18 August 2026 to lodge the outstanding financial statements."[1]
One Nation said it would meet the deadline. A party spokesman told the ABC: "One Nation is complying with the Office of Fair Trading's requirements, which have requested we lodge audited financial statements by 18 August 2026."[5]
What the law actually demands
An incorporated association must hold an annual general meeting within six months of its financial year end, present audited financial statements for adoption at that meeting, and then lodge an annual return containing those statements with the regulator within one month.[3] The annual return and the audited financial statement are not the same document; filing one without the other leaves the obligation unmet.
Queensland's Office of Fair Trading requires the financial statement to accompany every annual return lodged by an incorporated association.verifiedVerified Source: qld.gov.au[3] One Nation lodged its overdue returns on 3 July 2026 but left out those statements, prompting the regulator to maintain its deadline rather than treat the filing as sufficient.[1]
Who carries the legal exposure
Section 59F of the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 provides that if an incorporated association fails to comply with a direction to lodge financial information, the president, secretary and treasurer each commit an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units.[2] Pauline Hanson is registered as president and NSW senator Sean Bell as secretary of the Queensland division.
The Act also carries a higher-stakes outcome at the corporate level. Section 93(1)(f) lists failure to lodge required documents under Part 6 Division 2 as a ground on which the chief executive may serve a show-cause notice and cancel the association's incorporation, with cancellation vesting the association's property in the public trustee.[2]
A pattern of late compliance
The 18 August deadline is not an isolated episode. Reports have previously documented late annual general meetings, late filings and questions over more than one million dollars in missing or diminished assets across returns up to 2022. The June 2026 direction from the Office of Fair Trading requested returns spanning three consecutive financial years, suggesting the compliance gap stretches back at least to 2022/2023.verifiedVerified Source: theguardian.com[1]
What being struck off would and would not mean
Losing incorporated status carries real practical consequences. The association would forfeit limited liability, its capacity to hold property in its own name and its formal corporate structure.
Political party registration in Queensland sits under the Electoral Act 1992 and is administered by the Electoral Commission of Queensland; cancellation as an incorporated association does not remove a party from the Register of Political Parties.[4] Barrister Michael Bradley of Marque Lawyers said: "To be registered as a political party, you don't have to be a recognised legal entity. It's a more amorphous concept."[1] One Nation could lose its corporate shell and still contest Queensland state elections under the Electoral Act 1992.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Would losing incorporated status stop One Nation contesting elections?
Margaret Hale writes about politics, policy and the culture of business. She is drawn to the people behind decisions and to the moments when a political story turns out to be a human one.
