Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

I refer the parliamentary secretary to the comments made by the member for Moore, who is here in the chamber. I think that if any illegalities have been created then they should be investigated. That has certainly been the concern of the Labor Party—that there has been a breach of the Australian electoral law. I refer also to the comments by Mr Bodel, the Australian Electoral Commission official in charge of funding and disclosure, who made it clear that he believed there was a case worthy of an investigation on whether there had been a failure to disclose. Later on, he was reported as saying that he had basically been told to shut up on this issue. Can the parliamentary secretary assure the parliament that the Prime Minister’s office or any other minister’s office has not been involved in the attempted intimidation of the AEC? We note that, between the Prime Minister giving his press conference just prior to two o’clock last Thursday and the 6 pm news, the AEC released a statement saying that they had received advice—which of course had been foreshadowed by the Prime Minister in his press conference—and that that advice was from the Solicitor-General. Will the Prime Minister’s office ensure that there is no intimidation of the AEC or its officers over this issue and allow for the proper consideration of the independent legal advice which has been provided to the AEC?

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