Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, I hope you noticed the tie I have on tonight.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

An excellent Collingwood tie; I see you have already got on board. Last week I had reason to raise concerns about serious matters relating to the conduct of elections within the CEPU Communications Division. This division of the union represents postal and telecommunications workers. These elections opened on 1 June and will close on 2 July. Last week I documented in detail the lengths that certain individuals were going to not only to frustrate the conduct of the election, but to engineer electoral fraud. In particular, I focused upon the establishment of a front company used to hire people as doorknockers whose sole purpose was to approach CEPU members and collect their ballot papers from them. This is despite a clear warning from the Australian Electoral Commission that this behaviour was prohibited.

The front company, called Australian Market Research, supposedly located at Level 1, 8-10 Palmer Street, Parramatta, placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald calling on people to attend training sessions at various locations in Sydney. At these sessions, various documents were provided to doorknocking applicants, including a sheet of 30 CEPU member names and addresses and a large express post envelope. Applicants were told to visit these addresses, collect CEPU ballot papers and return them using express post envelopes. As I indicated to the Senate, this elaborate set of arrangements has been established by AMR, whose owner is a candidate in the elections—Mr Peter Jones. His operations at Parramatta are a sham. In fact there is absolutely no physical evidence of a presence at this location apart from signage belonging to another company, Bowdens Group.

After my comments in the Senate, a concerned employee of this organisation contacted the CEPU last Friday. This person said they had learned about the problems being encountered in this election, they had read the matters raised in the Senate and they were concerned about their company being dragged into improper activity. This person was not only anxious about the impact on their firm but was also concerned about the implications for their job. This person said they were holding, and I quote this precisely:

… hundreds of Australia Post Express Post satchels.

Remember, these satchels were provided by AMR to the doorknockers paid to collect ballot papers in this election. This person claimed that, over four months, Peter Jones paid to use the address for the collection of express post three kilogram satchels and other mail. This person was advised by the CEPU to not give the express post satchels to Mr Jones or any other person. The AEC, which had previously been notified of this matter, was advised of these latest details last Friday.

The Senate should also be made aware of the following. It is claimed that, after the Senate was informed of the problems with this ballot, Mr Jones hurriedly returned with others to this location in Parramatta. It is said Mr Jones retrieved various items, including envelopes, before threatening staff that anyone who commented on this matter would be breaching confidentiality agreements. Further, it is believed that doorknockers were out in force on the weekend in the Central Coast, Hunter and South Coast regions of New South Wales attempting to collect yet more ballot papers.

One would think that the revelations made to the Senate last week would curb this brazen effort to engage in prohibited electoral behaviour. Yet it appears to have done the opposite, only spurring on these efforts. And I am alarmed that the relevant authorities are standing by, alerted to these actions but refusing to act. While the AEC acted earlier, it should now be a matter of urgency that serious, determined intervention occur in this election to prevent the prohibited action of ballot collection by people paid to break the law.

The Australian Federal Police had also been previously notified about these problems. Today they were approached to discuss the action they will be taking to stop these acts of electoral fraud. The AFP was also approached by the person I referred to earlier—the concerned employee of Bowdens Group. I wish to advise the Senate that I am formally writing to the AFP, supporting any moves towards urgent intervention by them to ensure AFP officers are sent to these premises tomorrow to prevent the handover of this illegally obtained material. The premises will also be under surveillance to alert authorities of any attempt by Mr Jones to collect these outstanding materials. It is anticipated that the AFP will treat this matter seriously in the interests of members who want to see proper elections conducted for their union.