Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

If the opposition do not wish to hear the contents of these emails, might I suggest that they stick their fingers in their ears for the next couple of minutes. The next example is from Mr Grech to Malcolm Turnbull, the Leader of the Opposition. It says:

Perhaps it is best to meet somewhere private in Sydney this coming week. I can create a reason to be in Sydney for work, say on any day from Wednesday to Friday to meet up with you and Abetz. Must be very private, we must not meet in PH.

There is a response from the Leader of the Opposition that says:

Godwin, change of venue for 3 pm Friday. It’s Lucy’s office.

Finally, there is an email from Mr Grech to Mr O’Sullivan—and this may perhaps shed some light on the interjections from the member for North Sydney regarding the Secretary of the Treasury a minute ago. It says:

Today Treasury is as left wing loony as the government it serves.

That global communist conspiracy, it’s everywhere!

These emails of course raise some very obvious questions about Mr Grech. He is clearly not any kind of whistleblower, nor indeed a disgruntled public servant raising genuine matters of public interest. He is, in effect, somebody who has been acting as a spy for the Leader of the Opposition, who is not just passing on information but deliberately seeking to undermine, destabilise and interfere with the ordinary functioning of processes of government. That raises pretty clear questions about Mr Grech, but it also raises some very significant questions about the character and integrity of the Leader of the Opposition. He has been behaving pretty much like a KGB colonel handling his spy, his mole, inside the federal government, trying to ensure that he can not only get information but manipulate what is going on within the government. He has been behaving like some kind of shady character in a John le Carre novel.

The question here is: who here is displaying integrity and the kind of leadership that is required for somebody to aspire to lead the Australian nation? The Leader of the Opposition has got a lot of questions to answer with respect to this affair. When you look at the context and the text of all of these emails, both to and from the Leader of the Opposition but also to his key supporter and backer, Mr John O’Sullivan, there are very serious questions to be asked as to whether or not the Leader of the Opposition is a fit and proper person who is qualified to lead the Australian nation.

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