Rinehart paid for Panahi’s birthday party aboard a luxury boat
A guest at Sky News Australia presenter Rita Panahi’s 50th birthday party, held on a boat that can be rented for $25,000 a day, thanked Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, for hosting the event.
Rinehart’s representatives declined to answer questions last week when this imprint revealed details of Panahi’s lavish birthday celebrations aboard a houseboat off the coast of Miami and a visit by US President Donald Trump to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
However, in the new footage, Rinehart appears to be in the same boat as Panahi; One of the party guests thanks the mining and agriculture billionaire for organizing and hosting the party in Florida.
Toni Holt Kramer, a former Hollywood reporter and Florida socialite who runs a Trump fan club called Trumpettes, posted a series of photos and videos from the party on her YouTube and Instagram pages. These included photos of Panahi and the Australian billionaire celebrating together.
In an interview that appears to have been shot on a boat, Holt Kramer refers to Panahi as a “walking female President Trump.” A shoeless Panahi said the comment was “the biggest compliment.”
Holt Kramer later confirmed that the event celebrating the Sky presenter’s 50th birthday was organized by Rinehart.
“By the way, tonight is Rita’s birthday, and Australia’s wonderful Gina Rinehart, who cares and loves her country so carefully, hosted the party on a beautiful yacht in Palm Beach, Florida, where we are now, just minutes from the Florida White House,” Holt Kramer said.
The White House in Florida is a reference to Trump’s resort, Mar-a-Lago. Rinehart was also caught singing a Lee Greenwood song in a video described as a “vocal salute to America.” God bless the USA.
The byline matched images from the celebrations with boat rental information showing that a ship with the same décor sold for $17,945 ($25,000) per day, including the captain.
The videos also show decorations for Panahi’s birthday in the background (including a fake birthday front page previously reported by this masthead) and items that resemble gift wrapping.
News Corp’s standards of business conduct state that no employee should accept gifts or entertainment unless they pursue a business purpose and are “clearly appropriate in the context of a reasonable business relationship.”
Staff should also “reject or return any gift, even a small one, that appears to be given for the purpose or expectation of reward or influence.”
A spokesman for Rinehart declined to comment. Sky and Panahi did not respond to a request for comment. Holt Kramer has been contacted for comment.
Rinehart is a long-time principal sponsor of News Corp and Sky News, where Panahi works as an on-air personality and columnist as well as a personal friend of the broadcaster. The billionaire chairman of Hancock Prospecting is a regular at Mar-a-Lago and has a stake in Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News.
In an essay last year, Panahi criticized the “media and activist class” for their criticism of Rinehart and suggested that Rinehart would be a hero among feminists if she were a “garden breath.”
“But he is being attacked and vilified for speaking common sense and advocating policies that will benefit ordinary Australians rather than the Point Piper/Toorak approach,” Panahi wrote. Herald Sun.
Panahi opened Rinehart’s speech at last year’s Mt Gambier Bush Summit, run by News Corp and sponsored by Rinehart’s companies, describing the billionaire as “a nation-builder” while wearing a jacket from the Driza-Bone brand.
Panahi has previously called Rinehart “without a doubt the greatest business leader we have in this country” and backed the billionaire’s dispute with some of his own children over inheritance. Panahi called Rinehart’s son, John Hancock, a “spoiled brat.”
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect with: X or email.
