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A guest at Sky News Australia presenter Rita Panahi’s 50th birthday party on board a boat available to hire for $25,000 a day has thanked Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, for hosting the event.
Rinehart’s representatives declined to answer questions last week when this masthead revealed details of Panahi’s lavish birthday celebrations on board the boat floating off the Miami coast and her visit to US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
But new images show Rinehart on board the same boat alongside Panahi, with one of the party’s guests thanking the mining and agriculture billionaire for organising and hosting the party in Florida.
Former Hollywood reporter-turned-Florida-socialite Toni Holt Kramer, who runs a Trump fan club called the Trumpettes, posted a series of pictures and videos from the party to her YouTube and Instagram pages. They included photos of Panahi and the Australian billionaire celebrating together.
During an interview that appears to be filmed on board the boat, Holt Kramer refers to Panahi as a “walking female President Trump”. A shoeless Panahi responds that the comment was “the highest compliment”.
Holt Kramer then goes on to confirm the event celebrating the Sky host’s 50th birthday was organised by Rinehart.
“And by the way, it’s Rita’s birthday tonight, and Gina Rinehart, Australia’s wonderful human being, who is so conscientiously caring and loving about her country, has hosted the party on board a beautiful yacht here in Palm Beach, Florida, where we are right now, just minutes away from the White House of Florida,” Holt Kramer said.
The White House of Florida is a reference to Mar-a-Lago. Rinehart was also captured on video taking part in what was described as a “vocal salute to America”, recorded singing the Lee Greenwood song God Bless the USA.
This masthead matched images from the celebrations to boat rental information showing a vessel with identical decor is available for $US17,945 ($25,000) a day with a captain included.
The videos also show decorations for Panahi’s birthday in the background – including a mock birthday front page previously reported by this masthead – alongside what appear to be gift-wrapped items.
News Corp’s standards of business conduct state that no employee should accept gifts or hospitality unless they have a business purpose and are “clearly appropriate in the context of a reasonable business relationship”.
Staff should also “refuse or return any gift, even a minor one, which appears to be given for the purpose of or with an expectation of reward or influence”.
Rinehart’s spokesman declined to comment. Sky and Panahi did not respond to a request for comment. Holt Kramer was contacted for comment.
Rinehart is a long-time major 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 executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting is a regular at Mar-a-Lago and has a stake in Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corp.
In an article last year, Panahi criticised the “media and activist class” for their criticism of Rinehart, arguing she would be a hero among feminists if she were a “garden variety Leftie”.
“But because she speaks common sense, because she advocates for policies that would benefit ordinary Australians rather than the Point Piper/Toorak set, she is attacked and maligned,” Panahi wrote in the Herald Sun.
Panahi introduced Rinehart’s speech at last year’s Mount Gambier Bush Summit, which is run by News Corp and sponsored by Rinehart’s companies, calling the billionaire “a nation builder” while donning a jacket from her Driza-Bone brand.
Panahi has previously called Rinehart “undoubtedly the greatest ever business leader we’ve had in this country” and backed the billionaire in her dispute with some of her own children over their inheritance. Panahi called Rinehart’s son, John Hancock a “spoilt 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 via X or email.From our partners
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