Hanson’s money man Bill McNee didn’t play favourites

Bill McNee probably rues the day he hit the headlines as Pauline Hanson’s biggest single financial backer.

Bill McNee.

Reclusive and publicity-averse, Bill McNee probably rues the day he hit the headlines as Pauline Hanson’s biggest single financial backer.

Declarations to the Electoral Commission of Queensland show that his Melbourne-based property development group, Vic­land, tipped nearly $70,000 into One Nation’s coffers at a critical time for Senator Hanson, as she rebuilt her political fortunes in 2015. Mr McNee’s largesse covered a year’s rent on a new party HQ in Brisbane.

Last November he told The Australian that he had wanted to “be involved” in case One Nation went places in Senator Hanson’s state of Queensland, where Vic­land was expanding its interests.

“We were approached … we thought they (One Nation) were going to make a serious attempt there in the state election and given the past up there … we made a donation to them in the very same way we made donations to the Liberals and the Labor Party,” he said.

Mr McNee emphasised that he didn’t play political favourites: he had also given about $150,000 to the Liberal Party and $70,000-$80,000 to the ALP since 2014. But he had since tired of political parties hitting him up for money, and Vicland would make no further donations.

Described as Melbourne’s $100 million man, Mr McNee keeps such a low profile that photographs of him are hard to find. The son of British migrants, he apprenticed as a builder and then renovated homes, working his way up the property ladder through ever bigger projects.