Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to raise a concern I have about the member for Indi’s recent appointment to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. If we need any more evidence of the arrogance of the Howard government, we need only look at the appointment of the member for Indi to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. I would like to reiterate the comments made by the member for Batman about the outrageous behaviour of the government in changing the electoral laws—this could disadvantage not only other parties but also, more importantly, potential voters at the forthcoming election. Most importantly, I rise to address the campaign finance scandal that has enveloped the member for Indi. The government has shown a complete disregard for this matter.

The scandal emerged when British American Tobacco lodged its return to the Australian Electoral Commission disclosing political donations for the financial year 2005-06. Page 2 of the British American Tobacco return identified a $15,000 donation to the Liberal Party’s Federal Electorate Council for Indi on 10 April last year. While the Indi FEC is listed as the recipient, the address identified on the return is: Friends of Indi, 117 Murphy Street, Wangaratta. It just so happens that 117 Murphy Street is the location of the member for Indi’s electorate office. Therefore we know where the money has ended up.

The problem for the member for Indi and the Liberal Party is that neither she nor they disclosed this hefty donation. The front group Friends of Indi did not lodge a return either. It is not often you can say that the honesty of a big tobacco firm saved the day, but if BAT had not fessed up then the donation to the member for Indi would have remained a secret. The release of BAT’s return by the Australian Electoral Commission has shone a public spotlight on the member for Indi’s fundraising practices. Her ducking and weaving on this issue has been reprehensible. At first, the member for Indi admitted she was familiar with the Friends of Indi, but she soon moved to distance herself. The cover-up was revealed when a spokesperson for the group, Tom Robertson, said he was a friend of hers from student politics.

Mr Robertson went on to tell the Border Mail newspaper that the group’s fundraising activities included dinners with the member. Let us not forget that the donation was sent directly to the member for Indi’s electorate office. Sleazy fundraising is one thing, but there is more to this story. The member for Indi did not just pocket the $15,000; she championed BAT’s position in a local industry buyout late last year. When some tobacco growers opposed the BAT buyout, she said they were motivated by corruption or fear of criminal thugs in the industry. It is no wonder, then, that some locals have been outraged by the revelation of her secret relationship with BAT. Let me quote Myrtleford grower, Carlo Mancuso:

“Mrs Mirabella has no trouble in tarnishing the reputation and integrity of former tobacco growers by associating them with the illegal tobacco trade, while taking offence at the suggestion there is an association between her undisclosed funding from BAT and her role in a package that ended the industry,” he said.

As they say in the classics: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It is clear that the member for Indi has a case to answer, and her silence has been telling. She is not known for her timidity generally, but she has been very timid indeed when it comes to explaining her role in this affair. We know that the member for Indi pocketed BAT’s money and went on to support BAT’s buyout of local growers. We know that the BAT donation was the third-largest political donation made by that company last financial year. We know the donation was not disclosed to the AEC or to the parliament. Local growers knew nothing about it.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry says that he knew nothing about it either, despite the fact that the member for Indi was pressing the government for a taxpayer funded support package. There are things the electors of Indi deserve to know. Why did the Liberal Party’s local finance chairperson, Andrew Randall, say that he has never heard of the Friends of Indi? Either Mr Randall is suffering from memory loss or the member for Indi has a most curious relationship indeed with her local party.

How did the member for Indi spend the $15,000 from BAT? What are the names of many Friends of Indi donors? Have these donors gained appointments or other favours from the member? We do not know, but we can guess why the member for Indi has been so reluctant to come into this chamber and explain herself. This is an outrageous abuse of the laws that are currently in place and it should be investigated by the government. Instead of appointing the member for Indi as chair of a committee that has oversight on electoral matters, they should be investigating the behaviour of the member for Indi. (Time expired)