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

there was nothing out of the ordinary in the treatment of the man that had given a car to the Prime Minister. Well, I am about to contend that there is something different about John Grant. It comes down to the authoritative information that has been presented, not just by the Treasury but also by the Treasurer himself over the last few days. Firstly, how is it just an ordinary occurrence in the treatment of a constituent matter that the Treasurer on one day took a phone call from Mr John Grant—you would believe that in the ordinary course of business the Treasurer speaks to every constituent referral by a member of parliament—but Bernie Ripoll rang up the Treasurer and said, ‘I have a real problem with one of my constituents.’ Oh! if we could all have that response from the Treasurer about our constituents. But the Treasurer on this one day—on 20 February—rang up Mr John Grant on the mobile phone. There was a conversation with Mr John Grant. It was a conversation that the Treasurer omitted from his statement in parliament. He was treating Mr Grant as an ordinary person but he omitted to mention a mobile phone conversation with Mr Grant.

Secondly, on that day Mr Swan, the Treasurer, referred the matter within his office—quite appropriate. It went to Godwin Grech in the Treasury—all on the one day. The Treasury official then rang Mr Grant. Oh! if we could all have that sort of constituent response from the Treasurer—any Treasurer; we do not mind who the Treasurer is. All this activity on just one day, but Mr Grant is not being treated any differently to any other constituent! Mr Grech contacted Mr Grant and provided feedback on his discussion at 5.19 pm on a Friday. That is pretty efficient from Treasury. And do you know what? Not only does he provide that feedback, at 5.19 pm on a Friday, which is impressive all the same, but the email traffic continues with copies to Mr Thomas, Mr Jim Chalmers, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Treasurer—keen interest in this matter—and Mr Matthew Coghlan, the senior media adviser in the Treasurer’s office. Why did so many people have this interest in an ordinary constituent? Just another ordinary case but yet all these officials seem to have a keen interest! But it did not end there. This was a long day. At 7.27 pm, on a Friday, Mr Andrew Thomas provides an update on the issue to the Treasurer at his home fax. Amazing! Normally home faxes would have emails and facsimiles from the head of the IMF or the World Bank or even the Secretary of the Treasurer but, no, this ordinary constituent has his details sent to the Treasurer’s home fax, which the Treasurer omitted from his statement in parliament. The Treasurer was asked in a doorstop, ‘Why was this sent to your home fax?’ and he went on to say: ‘Well, it was not faxed specifically to my home at my request. All sorts of things come to my home fax machine. There can be hundreds of pages of material on the fax. On a rare night in Brisbane it could be out of paper.’

A few days later, on the Monday, there is the key event. The Treasury official goes into a meeting with Ford Credit. Ford Credit had been unable to access $2 billion of funds. At this point in time—and this is the most telling line—Godwin Grech, from the treasury department, sends an email to the Treasurer at his home, to the chief of staff, to the deputy chief of staff and to the secretary of the treasury department, who now has an interest in this ordinary constituent matter. In that email, the Treasury official states:

… Ford Credit will shut down the business if they cannot secure access to capital.

So Ford Credit, which needs half a billion dollars from this government and needs this government to change the terms of OzCar, is on its hands and knees to the government and yet, in a meeting with the Treasury official the following day, that Treasury official raises the issue of an acquaintance of the Prime Minister—

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