Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to representations made to the member for Flynn by Longreach Motors, a car dealership in his electorate. Did the Treasurer have a personal phone conversation with that dealer? Did the Treasurer receive updates about that dealer’s progress on his home fax?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we go. The smear campaign is now coming from cockies corner. The smear campaign continues. The credibility of those on that side of the House is completely shot. The obligation is on the Leader of the Opposition to come into this House and tell us about his dealings with this fake email. The Leader of the Opposition—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Ciobo interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Has the member for Moncrieff settled down so that the member for Warringah can get the call? The member for Warringah.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker, going to relevance. I know that ministers are allowed a little introductory material but I really think there is enough now and under relevancy he should come back to the specifics of the question asked.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will relate his material to responding to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly will, Mr Speaker, because at the core of the discussion about how car dealers were treated and who dealt with them has been the claim by the Leader of the Opposition based on a fake email. He is now so desperate that he is now trying to say that I am responsible for the fake email that he peddled around the country. I could not believe it on AM this morning. It was unbelievable. He has lost the plot.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. I would simply ask the Treasurer to answer the question and to be relevant to the question. It is a very specific question: did he phone a dealer other than—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will respond to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I am delighted to respond to the question. The shadow Treasurer said, ‘Did he find a car dealer.’ I found many car dealers. In fact I released some correspondence overnight that shows that other car dealers were receiving as much, if not more, attention from the Treasury than Mr Grant. There were many car dealers receiving attention from the Treasury. That is the case. Built around this is a farrago of lies from those opposite about how these cases were being handled.

One of the ones that is put around is that Mr Grant had personal updates sent to the Treasurer’s fax. I just want to go through that one again, Mr Speaker, because there were something like 130 emails sent to my office by Mr Grech—130 emails—and almost 30 per cent of those emails from Mr Grech to my office contained documents specifically for my attention. One of those did go to my home fax. Why? Because I happened to be at home. That is a remarkable thing to happen, isn’t it, Mr Speaker? This year the office has sent 209 faxes to my home via email, a total of 1,487 pages, and since I have become Treasurer, 4,638 pages have been sent to my home fax. So let’s just dispense with that.

Of course there is also the notion that there is some conspiracy because some of the emails were copied to the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr Grech sent 131 emails to my office. Dr Henry was copied in to 82 of those emails. The next suggestion that we hear from those opposite is that Mr Grant received personal referrals to finance companies and that somehow he was the only person who received a personal referral to finance companies. I was talking to the MTAA only this morning and they were talking about the fact that many of their members—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Treasurer has the call.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fact is that Treasury officials were constantly putting car dealers in touch with car finance companies—

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

No, you, you!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, the member for North Sydney!

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and that is what was going on at the time. You can see that from the evidence from the head of Ford Credit at the Senate inquiry last Friday.

Senator ABETZ—During those meetings, was the plight of any particular car dealer mentioned to you?

Mr Cohen—Yes.

Senator ABETZ—And how many?

Mr Cohen—There are at least three or four that I can recall.

And there would have been many more but that I would not know of them because these were matters that were handled by the Treasury officials with the finance companies and with the car dealers. I simply would not know.

The next allegation is that Mr Grant was looked after as a condition of rolling Ford Credit into OzCar. This is one of the biggest furphies of them all. Sloppy Joe over there has been trying to maintain that somehow Ford Credit was going to be a beneficiary of $500 million direct from the federal Treasury. Of course that was not the case at all.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Did the Treasurer have a personal phone conversation with Longreach Motors? Did the Treasurer receive updates—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. The Treasurer will relate his answer in response to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am talking about the allegations that the shadow Treasurer has been making about Ford Credit and how it relates to all of the dealerships that were dealt with by the Treasury.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Treasurer will respond to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a very pertinent question because it is very clear they could not care less what happened to car dealers right across the country during this period. The thing that OzCar was to do was to raise funds from the sale of securities to the major banks to provide liquidity for the financiers. The role the government was going to play in all of that was to offer a guarantee. But Sloppy Joe over there has been out there peddling his line—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Treasurer will refer to members by their parliamentary titles.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that somehow Ford Credit were up for a loan of $500 million, which of course they were not.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will commence to sum up.

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

Mr Hockey interjecting

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sure you do.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Bruce Scott interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Maranoa will resume his seat.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! This chamber spent five hours on a topic yesterday. There is a lot of emotion in the chamber but there is an expectation that members will rise above that emotion. That is to both sides, because, as I said yesterday, this is not a debate that will be won by those that can shout the loudest. The Treasurer has the call and the Treasurer will commence to sum up his answer.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tuckey interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for O’Connor is not assisting.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many dealers were contacting members of parliament, many dealers were contacting their trade organisation, many dealers were contacting the Treasury directly, and many of those were being put in contact with car finance companies.

In the House yesterday, I said I would follow up, through the Treasury, matters that were raised with me by two members of this House. I take those matters very seriously. I will take this matter seriously as well. I raised the two matters that were raised with me by members in this House yesterday with the Secretary to the Treasury today. He is looking at those matters and he will come back to me.