‘Did Gina also pay for the flights?’: John Hancock on Rinehart’s PR songbook

March 20, 2026 — 3:00am

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In this week’s On Background, Gina Rinehart’s estranged son takes aim at one of her media confidants, the Rajasthan Royals score a century and then some for Lachlan Murdoch, and KIIS FM could go in house to replace Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson.

Battle of the high seas

One year ago, News Corp columnist Rita Panahi used her Sky News platform to label Gina Rinehart’s estranged son, John Hancock, a “man-child” and “spoiled brat with a chronic case of entitlement”.

He did not respond. But on Wednesday, Hancock, who lives overseas to give his family some distance from his Australian legal entanglements, found a golden opportunity.

This masthead had reported on Panahi’s 50th birthday party on a $25,000-a-day boat floating off the Florida coast, which one guest said was hosted by Rinehart.

Guest thanks Rinehart for organising Sky host’s birthday boat bash

“This ‘journalist’ calling me a ‘spoiled brat’ appears to have celebrated her 50th onboard a boat funded by Gina, complete with a ‘present table’, and wearing the hat after months of singing from Gina’s PR flacks’ songbook,” Hancock told On Background.

“In contrast, I pay for my own boat and parties with money I’ve earned – not Gina’s, the origins of which are currently before the courts.

“Australians have a great radar for irony – here it writes itself.”

Hancock is no impartial player in this saga. He and one of his sisters are engaged in a bitter........

© WA Today