Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance and Administration (Senator Minchin) to questions without notice asked by Senators Evans and Wong today relating to a function for the Liberal Party held at Kirribilli House and political donations.

In doing so I thank the minister for that supplementary answer, which confirms that the Prime Minister is under investigation by the AEC for what Senator Minchin himself describes as a Liberal Party function. He is exactly right. It was a Liberal Party function which business observers paid $8,000 to attend along with two other functions. A Liberal Party fundraiser was conducted at Kirribilli House, organised by the Prime Minister and largely supported by taxpayers. Taxpayers, who are paying the wages of the staff and the upkeep of Kirribilli House, have directly contributed to the cost of the Liberal Party organising fundraisers at official residences. I thought this was extraordinary and a terrible development in Australian politics.

I understand from the Prime Minister’s press conference that he has done this before. I understand he has got form on this. He thinks that he has done it once or twice—no doubt all that will come out. But the clear offence that has occurred here is that the Liberal Party have charged people for access to government and taxpayer funded facilities. They have sought to abuse their trust and they have abused their role as the government of this country in order to further their narrow political interests. This is partisan behaviour on behalf of the Prime Minister. It is not behaviour that the old John Howard would have conducted. This shows the deterioration in the standards of the government. This shows the commitment now of the government to do whatever it takes and to use whatever taxpayer funded resources are available to achieve their political ends. People understand; they are very cynical about the Howard government’s use of taxpayer funded advertising and they know taxpayers’ funds are being used to promote the government. We have seen the worst abuse of this in recent months and we will see more in the lead-up to the election. People have in some ways come to accept it because they have seen it all before; they know that in an election year taxpayers’ funds will be used by the Prime Minister to support his re-election. But what is becoming increasingly apparent is a pattern of behaviour that sees the Prime Minister abusing his office in a much more personal way. We remember of course the alterations to the dining room in Parliament House that were proposed—the third dining room alteration under the Howards. They did the Lodge, they did Kirribilli and then they were going to do Parliament House.

We have seen the $243,000 for alcohol at the official residences, the Prime Minister inviting his mates around for a booze-up and putting the cost on the taxpayers. We have seen the Broome holiday. The Prime Minister went to Broome on holiday at taxpayers’ expense. He flew in on the VIP jet and he flew out on the VIP jet. When concern was raised, when the light was shone on this issue, the Prime Minister again sought to make a reimbursement. He fronted up $1,200 each for him and Mrs Howard to meet the costs of the VIP flight in and out of Broome, which on return took them to Brisbane. Economy rates for Broome to Brisbane are $1,200. It cost taxpayers about $54,000, but we got 2½ grand back from John Howard for the cost of his holiday in Broome. So what you are seeing is a pattern of personal behaviour that the Prime Minister did not indulge in in his early days in office, but his standards have dropped as the standards of this government have fallen dramatically.

We have this latest incident where the government seeks to abuse its position, abuse taxpayers’ funds and run fundraisers for the Liberal Party, where donors to the Liberal Party—people who donate $8,000—are invited to official government residences and entertained as part of their donation. This behaviour is extraordinary. It is wrong, the Prime Minister knows it is wrong, and every Australian will know it is wrong when they see the telecast of his press conference. I have never seen him look so bad. I have never seen such an appalling performance by the Prime Minister, because he could not explain his behaviour. His behaviour was totally inappropriate. He could provide no rational answer. He even admitted that it was part of the fundraising effort on behalf of the Liberal Party. The Prime Minister ought to stand condemned for his behaviour. This is a new low in the standards of this government. I am not sure how low you can go, but increasingly the standards are falling. (Time expired)