The plan, first reported by The Australian Financial Review, involves the party selling campaign material, such as corflute posters, to One Nation candidates at inflated prices.

The candidates would be reimbursed when the state electoral commission refunded them for expenses while One Nation would profit by supplying the overpriced material in the first place, including from a printing company Mr Ashby owns. Labor wants all previous payments to Mr Ashby's printing company looked at.

"There is an opportunity for us to make some money out of this, if we play it smart. Now I know they say you can't make money out of state elections, but you can," Mr Ashby is recorded as saying.

"And I'll deny I ever said this, but, what stops us from getting a middle man, or gracing, I'm happy to grace in cash and double the price of whatever it is, and we say to the candidates, we will fund 50 per cent of this package.

"So the package might be five grand, 'you're gonna pay $2500' and we'll pay the other $2500 of the $5000. The other $2500 is profit, it's the fat, and I wanna write it off. I don't want the cash for it, I'll make it a bloody tax deduction."

At one point, he suggests "we buy the corflutes for $5, we sell it to them at $11" and claims "that's what the Liberal Party do".

"Because when you lodge the receipt at the full price with the Electoral Commission of Queensland you get back the full amount that's been issued to you as an invoice."


At one point, Senator Hanson appears open to the idea, saying: "just look at it, what is the best financial outlook for us?"

At one point, Pauline Hanson appears open to the idea, saying: "just look at it, what is the best financial outlook for us?" Alex Ellinghausen

Deputy Queensland Premier Jackie Trad said authorities should investigate the recording.

Mr Ashby said the "brainstorming session" as secretly recorded by somebody with an axe to grind.

"No, at no point have we ever intended to deceive the electoral commission," he said.

"This was simply never implemented.

"It was a poor choice of words. I'll be the first person to admit that."