Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the local government elections occurring in my home region this weekend, particularly those for the Central Coast Council and the city of Newcastle. I want to draw the attention of the House to two key issues that voters should be concerned about: firstly, the ongoing problem of illegal donations from prohibited donors, which has tainted our region over the last few years, and candidates running as so-called Independents who are in fact a front for the Liberal Party.

On the Central Coast, conservatives are in disarray. There was a damaging preselection process that saw controversial councillor Doug Eaton unable to win Liberal Party endorsement in two wards, and he is now running as an Independent. And one of his close colleagues and mates, Greg Best, is running in the Budgewoi ward. These men do not represent the interests of the local community, and it would not be in the interests of my constituents if they were to be elected.

The people of the city of Newcastle are being offered the opportunity to vote for a new group called the Newcastle Independents. I want to state on the record that this group is not independent at all. Its candidates are closely aligned with the Liberal Party and the disgraced former mayor Jeff McCloy, who was forced to resign after appearing twice before ICAC because of his illegal donations to the Liberal Party. One of the leading candidates for the so-called Independents is John Church, who was the Liberal candidate for Shortland in the 2013 election. These so-called Independents have been referred to the New South Wales Electoral Commission for allegedly receiving in-kind donations from Mr McCloy, who was a prohibited donor. Indeed, Mr McCloy has acknowledged that he provided office space for the group to meet and discuss tactics for the election. In recent years, both the Central Coast and Newcastle have not been well served by these so-called Independents, who are too scared to run under the Liberal banner because it is such a toxic brand in the Hunter and Central Coast after their ICAC appearances.

Some people may say that a federal representative should not be intervening in local council elections. I disagree entirely with this view. It is my job as a federal member to work with all levels of government, and I want to be working with the honest representatives of local communities.

The ratepayers of the Central Coast and Newcastle deserve decent and trustworthy representatives of their local communities who are very clear about who they represent. If the people in Newcastle and the Central Coast want to elect Liberal councillors, that is fine; that is their democratic right. And I say good luck to them. But let those candidates proudly say that they represent the Liberal Party. They take money from people associated with the Liberal Party. They take resources from people associated with the Liberal Party. Many of them are former candidates from the Liberal Party, and many have resigned from the Liberal Party as recently as last month. Let's be honest about this. Let them be proud of their political orientation and run under those banners. The people of my region deserve nothing less than that honesty.