Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

the ordinary man, the everyday man, the everyday constituent. When a company is desperate for half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money, all of a sudden the Treasury official not only raises John Grant with the Ford Credit people but, interestingly, hands over Mr Grant’s private mobile phone number. You know what? Ford Credit had not, at this stage, been able to change the rules. Ford Credit had not been given an indication that they would get half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money, but here is a Treasury official handing over the mobile phone number of a person who he described as an acquaintance of the Prime Minister and someone whose interests had had the direct involvement of the Treasurer. And Ford Credit were expected to just treat that like any other constituent!

This is the damning moment for the Treasurer because the Treasurer stated in this place that it is an entirely normal situation. He is expecting us to believe that it is an entirely normal situation to ask a company that is desperate for half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to help out a mate of the Prime Minister. He expects that is an entirely normal situation. I will tell you what: that is not an entirely normal situation. The best defence this Treasurer can come up with is that the money did not, in the end, come from Ford Credit. The Treasurer has engaged in a conspiracy to murder but there is no body—that is what he is saying—and therefore there is no crime. Well, there is a crime. There are two crimes. Firstly, the Treasurer has misled the Australian people and that is a heinous crime. Secondly, this weak and insipid Treasurer is taking care of the Prime Minister’s mate with taxpayers’ money. That is our contention. The Treasurer has gone too far. The bill for all of this is undoubtedly being paid by the Australian taxpayers.

How revealing it is that, from the very start of this entire debate, the Prime Minister goes into denial about everything. He is seeking to provide aerial protection for his Treasurer. But I tell you what: we are not going to let the Treasurer off the hook. There are lots of questions that need to be answered. When did you first meet John Grant? It emerges the Treasurer purchased a car from John Grant Motors. It also emerges that there is a little club that John Grant is a member of that provides support to the Labor Party and may even provide support to the Treasurer. There are many questions to be answered, but I want to make this point: it is perfectly clear John Grant received preferential treatment directly as a result of the Treasurer’s involvement. There is now a correspondence trail between the Treasurer and Treasury officials. Of course, the Treasurer said it was only a one-off. Four separate emails go to the Treasurer’s home, and the Treasurer says: ‘I don’t know what happened in that case; I wasn’t informed. It was arms-length.’ What a fool. It is the case that the Treasurer’s bravado has got ahead of him. He is a man who has lied to the Australian people, he has lied to this parliament and the Treasurer now needs to resign.

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