A quiet coastal town, a senator’s land, and a label that changes everything

There is a certain irony in watching a politician who rails against elites quietly invest in a coastal town that real estate agents are calling the next Byron Bay. Yeppoon, on the Capricorn Coast of Queensland, has long been a quiet holiday destination—a place of modest motels and fish-and-chip shops where the pace of life moves with the tide. In recent years, however, it has begun to change. Sea-changers have arrived, house prices have climbed, and the town has acquired a new label from property developers and news outlets: the “new Byron Bay” .

Pauline Hanson, the One Nation senator, and her chief of staff, James Ashby, have been paying attention. Hanson owns land in Yeppoon, a vacant block in Cooee Bay that she purchased in 2021 for $580,000 without a mortgage . She had planned to develop a block of units there but has been trying to sell it since January for upwards of $1 million . Real estate agent Ravi Ramswarup said there has been a “ridiculous amount of interest” in the property, noting that Cooee Bay has seen some of the region’s biggest growth .

Ashby, described as Hanson’s most powerful aide, has also been active in the area. He has owned several properties in Cooee Bay and, after selling out, bought a block in nearby countryside where he began work on a home . His $56,000 shed application was made by Small Batch Brewing, a company run by Ashby, Hanson, and party official Alex Jones . One Nation announced last week that it had approved party funds for a shed on Ashby’s land to “minimise costs, including commercial rent,” while projecting up to $500,000 in annual revenue from a micro-distillery .

The political dimension of the couple’s involvement in Yeppoon is difficult to separate from the personal. Hanson has traveled to the region twice this year, claiming taxpayer funds for flights to and from Rockhampton, though she refuses to say why she made one of the trips . Together, she and Ashby boast about extracting tens of millions of dollars in grants for the area from the previous Coalition government—grants that account for half her listed “infrastructure achievements” .

One of those grants became a source of local friction. Hanson visited the Cooee Bay pool in April, filming a social media video at the nearly finished project and claiming she secured $13 million from the Morrison government for its upgrade . Liberal National local member Michelle Landry said she worked hard to fix the pool where her children had learned to swim, securing the grant in 2021 . The Livingstone Shire Council strongly denied a claim—made by Ashby on social media—that Hanson had been banned from the pool’s opening, saying the allegation led to “significant abuse” of councillors, staff, and their families .

Hanson responded to questions about Ashby’s community involvement with a statement: “Am I meant to beat him over the head with a stick for playing an active, positive role in his community? I wish more political staffers did the same” . Whether or not one shares that sentiment, the question of how political figures and their aides invest in the communities they represent—and the grants they claim credit for—remains a matter for public scrutiny. Yeppoon’s transformation is real. So is the attention it now attracts.

Pauline Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby have significant property and business interests in Yeppoon, Queensland, described as the “new Byron Bay.” Hanson owns a vacant block she is trying to sell for over $1 million, while Ashby’s land hosts a party-funded micro-distillery.

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Sources: Brisbane Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail Australia