From the Herald Sun:

Loser Hanson cleans up
Ellen Whinnett
November 26, 2007

SERIAL election loser Pauline Hanson is a financial winner out of yesterday’s poll, with a guaranteed $162,000 taxpayer-funded windfall coming her way.

Pauline’s United Australia Party had 77,146 first preference votes in Queensland when counting was completed yesterday.

Under federal rules, which allow for public funding of election campaigns, any candidate who receives more than 4 per cent of the primary vote automatically receives a windfall of $2.10 a vote.

Ms Hanson’s party has so far won 4.06 per cent of the primary vote, meaning she is in line to receive over $162,000 as a first instalment.

The cheque from the Australian Electoral Commission will be in the mail this week, with a second cheque to follow in about two weeks when postal, absentee and other final votes are counted.

It is Ms Hanson’s fourth straight election loss, and because she heads up the party, the hundreds of thousands of dollars she has now earned from the taxpayer goes straight into her pocket, even if she hasn’t spent much on the campaign itself.

The generous taxpayer funding of federal election campaigns is much more beneficial to would-be politicians than the systems that exists in the states and territories.

Each state or territory can choose whether it allows for public funding of elections.

In Victoria, parties or individuals who secure more than 4 per cent of the primary vote in a state election are eligible to receive $1.31 a vote. But the payments are capped at the amount the party for individual has spent on the campaign.