Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I concur with Senator Faulkner that issues of integrity around ministerial appointments and staffing appointments are indeed important, and I acknowledge the role that Senator Faulkner himself took in establishing the code of conduct for ministerial staff. Chief of staff is an important role, and I will come to that in a moment. But Senator Nash has, quite clearly, put on the public record important information in relation to the position of her chief of staff. She answered the question in respect of the information she had available to her at question time yesterday, and we were all here to hear that; and, at the first opportunity, which was during the adjournment debate last night—and I happened to be in the chamber—she provided additional information to ensure the chamber was fully informed of the circumstances in relation to her chief staff, as was appropriate. Obviously, she was asked to further clarify those circumstances today during questions asked of her in question time.

While it is appropriate that all of us who have responsibility in the ministry address potential conflicts of interest that we or our staff in those important roles may have, it is important that the responses that are given are given due consideration. Senator Nash has put on the public record that Australian Public Affairs is a media and public affairs company which is run by Ms Tracey Cain, the spouse of Minister Nash's chief of staff; and that, prior to working for Minister Nash, Mr Furnival was APA's chairman and, because of that position, he has a shareholding; but that, prior to his appointment to Minister Nash's staff, arrangements were put in place so that his previous business activities did not interfere with his obligations under the Statement of Standards for Ministerial Staff. Now, Minister Nash has clearly put that on the record and it is important that that be understood—that, prior to his employment, those provisions were put in place because, as Senator Nash said in question time today, she knew of Mr Furnival's previous activities working for Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, and other food industry clients prior to coming to work for her as her chief of staff.

But, in addition to complying with those proper ministerial standards, Mr Furnival's spouse gave additional undertakings that the business would not make any representations to either Minister Nash or Minister Dutton, would not make any representations to the Department of Health and would not make any representations, on behalf of any clients, to any minister of the Commonwealth in relation to the Health portfolio. So not only were there provisions put in place to distance the business from Mr Furnival in his role as chief of staff to Minister Nash, but the business itself made further provisions to remove the business from any potential conflict of interest in dealing with government. It actually constrained the business's activities in relation to that.

The opposition should, I think, take note of other concerns that have been raised in the past—for example, when David Epstein, the former chief of staff to Kevin Rudd, was appointed to the Canberra office of major lobbying firm Government Relations Australia.