Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I was indicating just now that senators might recall that so many ministers fell foul of the Howard government's ministerial code that Mr Howard was forced to further water down his already weak standards for fear that he might otherwise be left with no cabinet. That is how many casualties there were during that time.

I remind the Senate of the sorry tale of former Senator Santo Santoro, who resigned as a minister and left the Senate under a cloud of deep suspicion after his gross failure to properly declare scores of share trades was revealed. This is a scandal that has haunted Mr Santoro to this very day, and I would not be surprised if it remains burned in the memory of Senator Sinodinos. It has been reported that Senator Sinodinos, as John Howard's chief of staff, was intimately involved in responding to the ethical crisis that Mr Santoro's regrettable behaviour sparked within the coalition. In these circumstances, I question whether anybody could sincerely expect the Senate to believe that Senator Sinodinos is ignorant of private interest rules. Further to this let us consider the detail of the multitude of company directorships that mysteriously slipped Senator Sinodinos's mind. These are not just a couple of not-for-profit directorships as suggested by Mr Abbott. That simply does not stand scrutiny. First we have Senator Sinodinos's directorship of Move to Live Pty Ltd, which the senator described as a healthcare company. I believe there are unanswered questions about Senator Sinodinos's involvement in this company. These are serious questions indeed and they relate to the much-maligned Santo Santoro.

What Senator Sinodinos did not volunteer to the Senate during his late-night mea culpa was that Santo Santoro was deeply, intimately involved in Move to Live. Senators may be interested to learn that the now-infamous Mr Santoro,who, as I previously mentioned, was forced to terminate his own political career as a result of drastic failings of judgement, was also a director of this company. Senators opposite complained, but indeed I am not even quoting the former Prime Minister John Howard on this matter, which would certainly add some more meat to these bones. But, I return to Senator Sinodinos. It turns out that Senator Sinodinos and Santo Santoro sat around the Move to Live board table. Why did Senator Sinodinos fail to mention Santo Santoro's involvement in this company? Given Santo Santoro's own history with private interest matters, are we to believe that Senator Sinodinos thought Mr Santoro's involvement was not a legitimate matter of public interest? Was Senator Sinodinos concerned that revelation of his involvement with Mr Santoro would raise damaging questions about his own political judgement? Was Senator Sinodinos trying to hide something? Is Senator Sinodinos hiding any other aspect of his involvement with Move to Live or the operations of the company?

There are serious questions that must be answered about Senator Sinodinos's corporate links to this disgraced former politician. As Senator Brandis is fully aware, this is not the first time that Senator Sinodinos has been caught out exercising poor judgement and establishing murky associations. The committee of privileges—