Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie attended the recent national swimming championships as a guest of Australia’s richest woman, and has emerged as the Crisafulli LNP’s key conduit to the billionaire conservative political and sporting patron.

The appearance of the pair at the Gold Coast event raised eyebrows in April, but was only vaguely disclosed in Bleijie’s official diary. This masthead can reveal the businesswoman’s own websites state Bleijie was there as a member of Gina Rinehart’s “party”.

Analysis of ministerial diaries also shows Bleijie has met with Rinehart on another two occasions since the October 2024 election – and is the only minister to have done so. Details are limited, and a Right to Information request found no related documents.

This new insight into the mining magnate’s dealings with the most senior conservative government in the country comes amid a well-publicised break in her backing for the federal Coalition in favour of Pauline Hanson’s Queensland-based One Nation.

It also follows this masthead’s revelation through RTI laws of the Rowing Australia patron’s personal letter to Bleijie lobbying for the controversial choice of Rockhampton to host 2032 Olympic rowing – against the government’s independent venue review.

Both Rinehart and Bleijie have refused to answer questions about whether any similar approaches were made in support of a second departure from that advice, to pursue the new National Aquatic Centre within the Victoria Park precinct.

Sunshine Coast-based Bleijie sits on the right of the state LNP party room, with significant sway in cabinet and control of the key state development, infrastructure and planning portfolios and their associated project fast-track and approval powers.

Perth-based Rinehart, who also owns properties in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast, has significant business interests in Queensland through Hancock subsidiary Queensland Coal Investments (QCI), which is said to be focused on exploration in the state.

Her agricultural interests in Queensland include beef producer S. Kidman & Co and premium wagyu beef operation 2GR. The former is the sole Rinehart company to have made a political donation to state politics – with $1300 to the LNP back in 2018.

More recently, The Courier Mail noted the duo appeared together at the 2026 Australian Open swimming championships in April, with little additional detail.

Bleijie’s subsequent ministerial diary entry for the April 7 engagement describes its purpose as “ministerial and portfolio matters”, but does not mention Rinehart – a Swimming Queensland patron and national squad supporter – by name.

Instead, it lists others present as “invited guests, industry stakeholders, [and] local community members”, along with ministerial staff.

Websites associated with the Hancock Prospecting executive chair shed further light. There, Bleijie is listed as one of “her party”, along with LNP Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and his wife.

In response to a series of questions from this masthead, a spokesperson from Bleijie’s office said the deputy premier had attended the event “by invitation of Swimming Australia”.

“Contrary to Labor’s conspiracy theories, the deputy premier sat on the public balcony with 100 other people watching the amazing swimmers,” the spokesperson said.

But this was also not the only occasion Rinehart had been present at a meeting recorded by Bleijie, who is required to disclose all engagements beyond those deemed sensitive or related to electorate, party-political, personal or media matters.

Analysis by this masthead of all publicly available Crisafulli cabinet diaries shows Bleijie is the only minister to have met Rinehart since the 2024 election.

The first of Bleijie’s listed meetings, on October 23 last year, named Rinehart, QCI general manager Dave Davies, and former Country Liberal Party Northern Territory chief minister turned Hancock Agriculture chief executive and One Nation donor Adam Giles, as attendees.

A second meeting, with just Rinehart, Bleijie, and his ministerial staff, took place on January 7. The purpose for both was also listed only as “ministerial and portfolio related matters”.

The only other disclosed meetings with Rinehart or an associate by a government figure are two meetings Davies held with Resources Minister Dale Last’s chief of staff, Ally Foley, in December last year, and again in March.

Last has made it clear that his message to industry is “I’ll sign, you drill”. While March’s meeting involved ministerial staff only, December’s was also attended by Natural Resources Department director-general Graham Fraine and his staff.

This masthead has asked Bleijie whether his meetings related to recent public comments by Rinehart at a Hancock Prospecting-sponsored News Corp “Bush Summit” in Townsville supporting the provision of nearby land to microchip manufacturers, Israeli defence firms, Elon Musk’s SpaceX – in which she owns shares – or a controversial “critical minerals” bill introduced by the deputy premier.

While specific, attributable responses to such questions have not been provided by either of the pair, this masthead has been told none of those subjects had been broached.

“Queensland is open for business again after Labor’s decade of decline and the Crisafulli government will meet with anyone who is interested in investing in the state,” Bleijie said in a statement provided after one series of such questions in June.

A recent RTI request to Bleijie’s office returned no documents associated with either the October or January meeting. Questions to Bleijie about the reason for this remain unanswered.

In a lengthy response to some of this masthead’s questions, a Hancock Prospecting spokesperson declined to detail the nature of Rinehart’s meetings with Bleijie, but praised any effort to “reduce roadblocks” for critical mineral projects.

The spokesperson also said any suggestion that Rinehart’s advocacy or support for the ideas floated at the Townsville summit, or swimming, had been motivated by an improper purpose or attempt to obtain financial gain “is nonsense, and false”.

This masthead makes no such suggestion. The spokesperson concluded by suggesting Brisbane Times instead use its resources to probe whether rival mining billionaire Andrew Forrest will return the $66 million at the centre of a claim by the state government.