George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to draw to the attention of the Senate the conduct of a member of the Senate: Senator the Hon. Bob Carr, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In addressing the conduct of Senator Bob Carr I will be very, very mindful of the rulings you have lately given on the points of order I took and Senator Fifield took concerning Senator Collins's reflections on Senator Arthur Sinodinos. Before I direct my remarks to Senator Bob Carr, however, let me say that the personal attack on Senator Arthur Sinodinos AO—a person of absolutely unimpeachable integrity who has served this country as a senior Treasury official, for many years as the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister and as a member of this Senate and, I might say, is likely to serve this country in even higher office in the years to come—on the basis of innuendo, snide insinuation and assertions dressed up as questions which contain innuendos of a most despicable character, reflects both on the personal character of Senator Jacinta Collins that she would deliver such a speech and on the baseness of the people who wrote that script for her.

The matter that I wish to raise in relation to Senator Bob Carr is this: Senator Carr has recorded on the Register of Senators' Interests a shareholding in a company called RJ Carr Pty Ltd. In doing so, he of course observed the obligations cast upon him to register that interest. But the issue that is of concern concerning Senator Bob Carr—who is, of course, Australia's face to the world—is the nature of the shareholding and the nature of the business. Senator Carr is, according to the register, the sole shareholder in that company, and that company—a private company which is the corporate alter ego of Senator Bob Carr himself—is a lobbying business. It is a political lobbying business. And Senator Bob Carr, by his registration of that interest on the Register of Senators' Interests as a current interest, has declared to the Senate that he is currently engaged in and is the owner of a political lobbying business.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My goodness!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It might seem a shocking thing, Senator Fifield, that the same man should be a member of the cabinet—a member indeed of the National Security Committee of the cabinet—and a registered political lobbyist. If that is not a conflict of interest, I do not know what a conflict of interest is. May I direct the attention of senators to section 2.9 of the government's own document, the Standards of Ministerial Ethics. Section 2.9 of the Standards of Ministerial Ethics says:

… these Standards require that Ministers divest themselves of investments and other interests in any public or private company or business …

Plainly, Senator Bob Carr is in breach of that requirement of the Standards of Ministerial Ethics. But furthermore, because of the nature of this business, a political lobbying business, he has kept himself in a position of conflict between his private interests—both as a lobbyist for a commercial company and in his obligations to the clients of that company to prosecute their private interests as a lobbyist—and his public duties as a senator, as a minister of the Crown and, indeed, as the holder of one of the most senior portfolios in the government and, as I said before, as a member of the National Security Committee of cabinet.

This issue was raised by Senator Ryan in Senate estimates about three weeks ago. Senator Carr asserted that everything was in order. He attempted to dismiss the conflict of interest as a bit of paperwork. Those were his words. He said, 'This is a bit of paperwork'. Now we have heard an ugly and sententious speech from Senator Jacinta Collins attacking the integrity of a very great Australian, Senator Arthur Sinodinos—a very great Australian. And yet Senator Collins shares the ministerial benches with a person who openly displays defiance and contempt for the very standards that Senator Collins asserts were not observed by Senator Sinodinos. The difference is that the assertions made against Senator Sinodinos were false—disgracefully false, disgustingly false—whereas Senator Bob Carr himself, by his own words, dismisses those standards as a bit of paperwork while being in open and flagrant and contumelious violation of them.

The place of business of RJ Carr Pty Ltd—because, as you would know, Mr Acting Deputy President Marshall, when a company is registered one of the particulars required in the registration is its place of business—was changed. It was changed on the 24th of May 2012, on the afternoon of that day. The 24th of May 2012 was the very day on the morning of which Senator Scott Ryan, in Senate estimates, exposed this matter.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oops!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Fifield, with his usual eloquence, ejaculates, the same day that Senator Scott Ryan exposed Senator Bob Carr's conflict of interest, mysteriously, the particulars of registration and in particular the place of business recorded in the corporate register were changed. What is even more alarming about this—if one leaves aside the blatant double standards we have seen on display this afternoon from a member of the Senate, if one leaves aside the contempt with which Senator Bob Carr dismissed his obligations to this place by dismissing it as a bit of a paperwork, if one leaves aside that fact that one of the most senior ministers of this government is caught in an obvious conflict of interest between his private interests and his public obligations, if one leaves aside the suspicious fact that no sooner was this fact revealed by Senator Scott Ryan than Senator Bob Carr sought to suddenly change the location of the place of business while not divesting himself of it, and even if one leaves aside the fact that Senator Carr continues to be in flagrant and, it would seem, proud violation of the government's own standard of ministerial ethics; not only is this a serious matter, leaving all those considerations to one side—is that the Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard, has been aware of this fact from the start and she has suffered it to continue. She has allowed this to continue.

The Prime Minister of Australia is—among his or her many responsibilities—the ultimate arbiter and enforcer of ministerial standards. We heard from Senator Collins how ministers in the Howard government breached those standards. What Senator Collins did not tell us was that on each and every occasion—and there were a few occasions, particularly in the early years of the life of that government, when ministers fell into breach of those standards, even, as in the case of our former colleague Senator Brian Gibson, for purely technical breaches of those standards—Mr John Howard came down on those ministers like a tonne of bricks. And every one of them was required to pay the ultimate political price: the sacrifice of their ministerial career, because the high standards that Mr John Howard demanded of his ministers were standards of which he would brook no compromise.

On this occasion, a much more serious breach by a much more senior minister than any of those who fell into trouble under Mr Howard—a direct breach of the stipulation in section 2.9 of the Standards of Ministerial Ethicshas been committed. That breach itself, for reasons that must be obvious to even the dullest senator in the chamber, is a plain conflict between private interest and public obligation and has been known by the Prime Minister since at least 24 May 2012, if not earlier, when it was exposed in Senate estimates by Senator Scott Ryan. What has the Prime Minister done to enforce her own ministerial standards? What has the Prime Minister done to ensure that one of her most senior colleagues is not in a conflict between his private interests and his public duty? She has done nothing.

Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don't know that.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Feeney, I will take your interjection. I do know that.

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was Senator Thorp.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was it Senator Thorp? This is Senator Thorp; the last time Senator Thorp—

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis, you will address your remarks through me, not to Senator Thorp.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will. Mr Acting Deputy President, the last time Senator Thorp interjected on one of my speeches, I recall, I was making the point that when Mr Peter Costello was the federal Treasurer he had delivered nine surplus budgets in a row, and Senator Thorp interjected: 'So what?'

Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exactly.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exactly. Now Senator Thorp interjects with an equally intelligent interjection, if I may say so: 'How do you know that she knew?' Well, Senator Thorp, it is on the public register.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis, you will address—resume your seat. Senator Polley, on a point of order?

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Acting Deputy President. I know the learned lawyer on that side knows the standing orders, and he should be directing his remarks through the chair instead of trying to reflect on and insult senators on this side of the chamber.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Polley. I was just about to bring Senator Brandis' attention to the fact that he should address his remarks through me.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I have been keeping you firmly in my sight throughout this contribution.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Brandis.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know this, Senator Thorp—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—because this is a public register; there is an obligation to keep it updated in a timely fashion. It remains the case that this breach of the government's standards of ministerial conduct—

Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Mr Acting Deputy President: I am concerned that I may have been verballed by the senator.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not actually a point of order, Senator Thorp. There are other opportunities to correct the record if you so choose.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This remains registered on the register, and that fact has been publicly known since it was exposed in May of last year. The leader of the government, the Prime Minister, must be taken to know what is on the public register.

I have in this contribution avoided the subject of Senator Bob Carr's shepherding and fostering of the political career of Australia's most corrupt politician, Mr Eddie Obeid, because this is a new and even more disturbing matter. For a senior member of the Australian cabinet—

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Clearly, Senator Brandis was then impugning Senator Carr. I note with interest his earlier remonstrations about this very section, 193(3), of the standing orders. I ask that he withdraw his imputations regarding Senator Carr.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, on the point of order: I said that Senator Carr fostered and shepherded Mr Obeid's political career. I said that Mr Obeid was Australia's most corrupt politician. Both of those facts are objectively true.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do believe that the matter is more of a debating point than a point of order at this point.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time available to me, one of the most senior members of the government, in breach of the government's own standards, unenforced by the Prime Minister, continues to carry on business as a political lobbyist, from the cabinet table, from the heart of government in this country.