Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let us go back to the Australian Financial Review, which was quoted by Senator Brandis, and this issue of special relationships, because this debate is about special relationships. I am happy to have a discussion about the special relationships the coalition lobbyists, who have relationships with big business, have with the Liberal Party, and that is a legitimate issue here. Pamela Williams, who is a highly respected journalist, says:

It's the phone call a growing number of top business executives receive: Santo Santoro is on the line.

Santo Santoro, a former Liberal senator, is on the line. It goes on:

Santo is your man, they say, if you want something pushed in Queensland by a lobbyist …

But Santo Santoro is not just a lobbyist with rolled-gold cronies across Queensland's Liberal National Party. He is a political fund-raiser on a wider stage, too, personally backed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as a federal vice-president of the Liberal Party with the role of helping round up big-dollar donations for the party, ahead of the next federal election. … Which Santoro is it who lifts the phone? The political bagman for the federal Liberals, or the highly paid private lobbyist looking for a contract, who happens to be a party elder with the ear of Abbott and a speed dial in Queensland?

It says that Santoro's political lobbying business has almost tripled in size in one year, from 10 clients in July last year to 28 clients now. How has this happened? It has happened because there is a special relationship. There is a special relationship between Santo Santoro and the Liberal Party. Is there any doubt that this would be a special relationship of some note, taking up two articles in the Financial Review? Let us go to some of Santo Santoro's clients. If you see the list of clients, and then you listen to the coalition defending a number of businesses around this country, you will see that there is quite a connection between the clientele of Santo Santoro and the arguments put up here defending businesses' rights in this country.

And then we have other special relationships. We have the special relationship that Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Ms Julie Bishop, have with Gina Rinehart. An article in Crikey,whichrefers to an article in the Age, says:

… Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce tapped the taxpayer for $2,000 last week to attend the lavish wedding of a granddaughter of an Indian billionaire engaged in delicate negotiations with iron ore matriarch Gina Rinehart to buy two of her Queensland assets.

So here we have a special relationship. We have Gina Rinehart actually flying out the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Senator Barnaby Joyce to a wedding in India. I just do not understand this, but that is what happened. Gina Rinehart was in negotiations with one of these Indian billionaires to buy two of her properties. So what is being done, according to Crikey, is that she is getting added status. She says to Senator Joyce and to Ms Bishop: 'Jump in my jet. I'll fly you out to India, and you can stand by my side and I'll look pretty good. I've got these senior politicians on my side. It'll show how important I am.'

If ever there was ever a special relationship, that is it. And what did Senator Joyce say about this massive function he went to? He said he’d 'enjoyed a brief encounter with a Bollywood actor'. He didn't get any lessons! When you see Senator Joyce in action, you know the Bollywood actor didn't give him any tips. According to the article, he described the actor as 'India’s Brad Pitt' and said, 'I must admit it was absolutely mind-blowing.' So here we have Senator Joyce out at the big shindig in India, flown out by the billionaire—a special relationship, a fantastic relationship. I do not know what he was supposed to be doing. Why would you have two coalition politicians in your jet going to an Indian billionaire's wedding? But there they were. Senator Joyce said it was mind blowing. I do not think he has ever recovered from that mind-blowing experience; it is getting worse every week! But there you go. Why would he be at this billionaire's wedding? That is a special relationship, and we will just have to wait and see where that special relationship leads us.

Another person who had a 'special relationship' was former Senator Helen Coonan. Helen went off and left here and her seat was still warm when she became a director of Kerry Packer's Crown Ltd, on the payroll of Kerry Packer. That is fine; people can do that. But you cannot simply talk about special relationships without understanding—

Senator Brandis interjecting—

You have to understand the special relationship of the coalition with all of these billionaires. You have to understand it. That is why they are in here defending the tobacco industry, the gambling industry and the healthcare industry. That is because there is a 'special relationship' between the coalition and big business. Make no mistake about it.

There are some weirder special relationships. Take Senator Mathias Cormann. What about his special relationships? Senator Cormann took a trip back in 2011 to the United States. It is on the public record. He said the purpose of the trip was to explore the United States's economic, fiscal and monetary policy and their approach to financial services and to deepen relationships in the US—it went on and on. What else did he say? He said: 'My visit to the US was an invaluable opportunity to develop contacts to draw on in the future.'

Let us see who he is drawing on. He is drawing on a mob called FreedomWorks. What are they about? They are major supporters of the Tea Party in America. That is why we see all this nonsense all the time from over the other side of the chamber. They went over at public expense to talk to all the loopy people from the Tea Party. Then they came back here and tried to behave every bit as loopily as the Tea Party in the United States. What else do FreedomWorks do? They sell high deductible insurance policies and tax-free medical savings plans to individuals at group discounts. So they are in the private health industry. They are really up to their necks in a whole range of things. One of their main funders is Philip Morris, the tobacco company. These are the types of people that Senator Cormann met over there.

Senator Brandis interjecting—

Senator Cormann interjecting—