Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I informed the parliament about a package recently sent via Australia Post to my home. The sender's address on the package appeared to be fictitious, and my family and I, including my children, were very shocked and concerned that our home was being targeted. In accordance with protocol, I notified the Australian Federal Police, and they in turn contacted Orange police, who investigated and found that the package had been sent using a fake name, address and signature and was paid for with cash. The CCTV at the post office revealed that the sender of the package was the chair of the Calare Federal Electorate Council of the New South Wales National Party, Janelle Culverson. She is a former Cabonne shire councillor, and, aside from the remaining state MPs, she is the most senior National Party member in the region. The package contained empty wine bottles bearing labels carrying an insulting message. When confronted by police, she admitted to sending it. This was no joke. The sending of the package and the steps taken to conceal her identity created fear, anxiety and stress for our whole family, including my children.

Having such a package sent to your home creates awful worry that your house is being watched and that you and your family members may be in danger or at risk. It raises the fear of escalation because you don't know what else could be coming or what may happen next. Family members don't deserve to be brought into politics this way. They don't sign up for it and they should never be made to feel fear, worry and apprehension in their own homes. The National Party has asked for Ms Culverson's resignation from her position, but there's been nothing but silence from the Nationals ever since: no statements, no confirmation that the resignation has been forthcoming—nothing. If the home and family of a National Party MP had been targeted in this way by an opposing party, the Nationals would have been demanding an immediate apology, resignation and expulsion of that person from that party. Why the silence from the National Party now? This whole episode reflects very poorly on them, and it's little wonder that people continue to walk away from the National Party and all its nastiness. Their silence says so much about them and the way that their party now operates. I compare the National Party that I grew up with to what the National Party has become in 2023. It is truly a shadow of its former self.