Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We recently saw the collapse of a billion-dollar supply-chain financing company. The collapse happened so fast that it sent shockwaves around the world. There were huge implications for industrial and manufacturing workers. Thousands of workers in Whyalla here in Australia have spent the last six months under a cloud of uncertainty. One of our most important manufacturers of steel had to rebuild itself off the back of hard work, generational knowledge and belief in its product after coming close to the brink of collapse in 2016. I visited the workers of Whyalla recently. They were positive—they believe in their work and stand behind the quality of their work—but their jobs were on the line, as was the wellbeing of the entire Whyalla township.

Red flags started being raised about the billion-dollar supply-chain financing company Greensill Capital in 2019 when the ACCC looked into Greensill's financing model and prolonged payment times. The ACCC liaised with ASIC over the use of schemes promoted by Lex Greensill. Red flags were raised early in 2020 with the government's own finance department likening Greensill's supply-chain financing product to dodgy payday loans.

The company was clearly overexposed. People were talking. Its founder, Lex Greensill, had a particular method though to look after himself. He surrounded himself with influential former conservative politicians in countries where he wanted to prosecute his case and get his business model embedded within the government. He did that via the ears of the people in the nation's top offices. We saw this in the UK. Dave Cameron, a former Tory Prime Minister, was hauled before a number of parliamentary inquiries after it was revealed he aggressively lobbied former colleagues to ensure that Lex Greensill could pitch his dodgy product directly to the UK's top decision-makers.

But he needed someone in Australia to do his work too. In comes Julie Bishop, the former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, undertaking work on behalf of Greensill from late 2019. Greensill welcomed her on board as a senior adviser. In January 2020 at the World Economic Forum it was Julie Bishop who organised a meeting between then finance minister Mathias Cormann, Lex Greensill and his senior adviser David Cameron. It was all very neat. What was discussed in the Swiss Alps at Davos? What opportunities did Julie Bishop see for Greensill Capital in the Australian market? These are questions we should have answers to.

Not long after that the world imploded under the weight of a global pandemic—people lost their jobs and entire sectors were brought to their knees. While it was happening the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, directed a Greensill adviser who had contacted him to set up a meeting with Greensill Capital with his department. Who approached the Treasurer to set this up? It was the former deputy leader Julie Bishop. If we move to 14 April, 12 days later, Julie Bishop registers a firm—Julie Bishop & Partners—on the Australian Lobbyist Register. Some days after that she listed Greensill Capital as a client.

By April 2020 more concerns were being raised about the Greensill financial model and its exposure to a single organisation. A mere eight weeks after that Treasury meeting these huge holes began to show. In July Greensill Capital's insurer, Bond & Credit Co, told Greensill that its policies covering receivables may not be renewed. On 1 March it sacks its office responsible for the $10 billion of trade credit policies.

We have sought answers from the government on who Julie Bishop approached and who in her parliamentary contact book she called. Which coalition politicians were asked to look at the opportunities presented by Greensill's dodgy payday loans, as they were described? Lex Greensill sent a wayward message intended for the Prime Minister in October 2019. It's not easy to get your hands on the personal number of the Prime Minister, but he did. He was able to do that. We sent questions about what interactions he had on behalf of Greensill's with Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:35 to 12:53

So what is clear is that we had Lex Greensill with the phone number of the Prime Minister and being able to have high-level contact with people. He was aided and abetted by a former deputy leader of the Liberal Party in Julie Bishop. We don't know what was said. We don't know what commitments were given. We do know that this is a bunch of Liberal mates who are looking after each other. And, when we ask the Prime Minister for details on it, he says it's too hard and onerous.

This is why we need a National Integrity Commission—so that we're able to get to the heart of the dealings and know what's going on, and so that the public is made aware that mates cannot overrun the way the government is run.