‘We were drinking’: One Nation defence of NRA donations

Pressure is building on Prime Minister Scott Morrison over One Nation, while the party’s officials claim they were drinking for hours before they boasted that for $20 million they will “open any f**king door you need open”.

ONE Nation officials have claimed they were drinking for hours before they boasted that for $20 million they will “open any f**king door you need open”.

An explosive documentary from Qatari news organisation Al-Jazeera caught One Nation officials James Ashby and Steve Dickson in secret recordings saying the wanted $20 million from US gun lobby group the NRA and referring to Australia’s gun laws as “poison”.

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It sparked a political wildfire in Australia and has increased pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Coalition over how to preference One Nation.

One Nation Chief of Staff James Ashby filmed by an undercover journalist. Picture: Supplied

Mr Morrison blasted One Nation for “selling Australia’s gun laws to the highest bidder” and encourage people to vote against the party — but would not call for them to be placed below Labor in preferences.

While moderates Coalition MPs, including Minister Kelly O’Dwyer “can’t see any reason why One Nation wouldn’t be preferenced last”, while Michael Keenan argued the Greens were more dangerous.

An LNP spokesman last night said the party would not be commenting on if the revelations would impact how One Nation was preferenced.

It was uncovered as part of an Al Jazeera investigation into NRA links in Australia, after they set up a fake lobby group called Gun Rights Australia.

No foreign donation laws were broken as they did not pass until November, while the meetings took place two months prior and no money ended up changing hands.

But the recording caught Mr Dickson telling NRA officials that Australia’s gun laws were like “poison” because people would say “it’s OK for them to go down the path of not having guns”.

Mr Ashby says for $20 million “you would own the lower house and the upper house”, while Mr Dickson said they would “open any f**king door you need open”.

Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson say the comments were taken out of context and accused Al-Jazeera of acting as “spies” and the incident was “political interference by a foreign government”.

One Nation party officials Steve Dickson (left) and James Ashby field questions during a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

They reported it to ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.

Mr Dickson, who voted against a move to toughen restrictions on the Adler shotgun in his last sitting week as an MP before the 2017 election, said the initial conversation came after hours of drinking shortly after arriving in the US.

“I’ll be brutally frank, I was drinking scotch with this bloke for three or four hours. A number of things were said there,” Mr Dickson said.

“I absolutely apologise and regret using some of the words I did. I was with three blokes, having scotches at the bar of the hotel we were staying at.”

Mr Ashby said the initial purpose of the trip was to learn from the NRA, seek advice and potentially campaigning technology.

“There was never any prospect of money coming back. He just set this whole thing up,” he said.

“I don’t recall every asking for a donation of any amount. I was looking for advice and technology.

Mr Dickson said his “poison” comments were taken out of context and that, “the rest of that sentence was when guns are taken away from Australians, all guns.”

Mr Ashby said he also did not remember saying that if their trip to the US was made public it would “f**king rock the boat. This shit goes through my head every single minute of my day”.

“I don’t know what the context was. I don’t know,” he said.

He said Senator Hanson was aware of the trip, but would have had to approve any donations.

One Nation candidates in Queensland stood by their leader yesterday, declining to comment or refusing to believe the allegations.

Senator Hanson is yet to comment and was said to be sick yesterday.

Pauline Hanson did not comment on the NRA donation scandal engulfing the One Nation yesterday. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning

But newly elected One Nation leader Mark Latham turned on his Federal colleagues.

“I hope they do a U-turn here and start supporting what we’ve done in NSW, support the Howard gun laws, support abolition of any foreign donations and acknowledge what they’ve done in the United States was perhaps quite a mistake,” he told 2GB.