Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the reasons for the government not fully complying with this order to produce documents. In fact, Senator Carr's motion calling for all documents regarding the application and decision to award government funding to Gretals Australia Pty Ltd could not be clearer. It is not for this place, necessarily, to have to decide specifically, in each and every way, who, in fact, issued this money in order to ask this place a question, because it is the right of this Senate to hold the government to account and to ask them questions. If they have made public statements about giving grants, about giving money, then they should not be hiding who and where that money came from and how. This chamber may not always know the so-called origin of a grant—or any other decision that this government might speak about—but we should not be precluded from asking the questions. So it is, frankly, absurd for the leader of this chamber to come back with weasel words about not specifying what the application refers to, or what decision it refers to, or the documents that are requiring production—because that is exactly why we asked the question. The government is being nothing other than evasive here.

Why are they being evasive? The issues behind this are very clear. The member for Dunkley, Mr Chris Crewther, is a shareholder in a company with fewer than 25 shareholders, and it was announced that this company received a $50,000 grant from the Commonwealth. This is why we're seeking answers to this question. The company, Gretals Australia, is the one referred to in Senator Carr's motion. It is a company that develops pharmaceuticals and medical technologies. Mr Crewther, the member for Dunkley, said that his company had in fact received this money. His admission is in the Hansard of the House of Representatives. This is a grave question for him and for the government's majority in the other place, because, as senators know, there is a constitutional prohibition on any senator or MP having a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the public service of the Commonwealth other than as a member of a company with more than 25 shareholders. So is it any wonder that the Leader of the Government in the Senate wants to be blissfully unaware of what the application refers to, or what the decision is, or to even recognise that what Senator Carr has raised in this place is a legitimate question that should and must be answered.

There are clear questions as to whether such a grant would, in fact, cause Mr Crewther to be a member of the other place. The grants were included in the list of recipients published by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in August last year, and Senator Carr referred in this place to the list of those grants. But we've seen—somehow, miraculously—that Gretals Australia were no longer included on that list, which is why Senator Carr has asked for these documents to be tabled. What led to this? What is being concealed? Was the grant allocated? Why was it withdrawn and when? Was its withdrawal something to do with Mr Crewther's eligibility? The government says that Mr Crewther was mistaken in saying the $50,000 had been received. Apparently Senator Sinodinos, who was then the industry minister, was also mistaken. How do we know that? Was the money received? Was it given back? Was his department mistaken?

I commend Senator Carr for raising this very important issue this morning. All relevant documents should be tabled before the Senate. The weasel words coming from the Leader of the Government in the Senate in relation to this matter are purely an attempt to paper over the political problem that the government has.

The government understands very well what this matter is in regard to. They understand it very well. But instead they come back with the weasel words, 'Does not specify what the decision refers to', 'It's unclear to which time frame the order applies,' and, 'What application does it refer to?' You have to go away and figure those things out in the public interest. We and Senator Carr have a right to ask these questions, because we may not always know which grant it was or where it was. But, frankly, Senator Carr does well know—he's made that very clear—and the government knows too. These weasel words won't get you through the significant problems in failing to be transparent around the grant made to Gretals Australia, the grant made where money was apparently received—but was mistaken. Was the money received? We don't know, but we have a right to know.

We know that in November this year Senator Cormann alleged that there were bush lawyers asking questions about Mr Crewther's eligibility to sit as an MP. Bush lawyer or not, this place has a right to the answers to these questions. It is a legitimate question if this money was given and received at any point in time—or given and then given back—this remains entirely unclear to this place. The simple fact is that the government has not denied the facts presented by the opposition in pointing out the problems with this grant and the very real challenge it creates to Mr Chris Crewther's constitutional eligibility to be a member of the other place.

Senator Cormann claimed that the grant had not gone to Gretals but to the University of Melbourne; but, as Senator Carr made clear, that is an entirely different grant. It is not the grant from Global Connections Fund that Mr Crewther referred to in his statements to the other place last year. Nothing has been said or done here that resolves his connection to this grant. The question remains very clearly about his eligibility to sit in that place. That is the core issue here.

The government can obfuscate all it likes with weasel words like, 'We don't even know what grant you're referring to.' It is your obligation to know. You are refusing to acknowledge these issues and to release the documents—and you know very well what they are—that would clarify these issues. You can duck and weave all you want, but it's very clear why Senator Cormann and his colleagues would be so anxious about this issue. I continue to call on the government to supply the documents that have been requested in the order to produce documents.

Question agreed to.