Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to also speak on the growing controversy surrounding the business affairs of Senator O'Sullivan, a Queensland LNP senator. I think it's useful to just map out what this controversy is all about. It comes down to three different contracts that have been awarded to companies controlled by Senator O'Sullivan and his family. Not only are there three contracts but—and this is the important point—they are contracts to provide works that are funded by the Commonwealth government.

In 2015, Senator O'Sullivan's family company was awarded a contract to undertake roadworks in Emerald in Central Queensland under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. That was a contract valued at $2.2 million. In October 2016, a second contract was awarded to Senator O'Sullivan's family business, this time for $2.5 million worth of work on the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing—again, a project that is majority funded by the Commonwealth government.

What we've learned today is that there is a third contract for Commonwealth-funded works that has been awarded to Senator O'Sullivan's family company—this time for works on the Warrego Highway west of Brisbane to the value of $1 million. So putting those three contracts together, what we now learn is that Senator O'Sullivan's family company has benefited to the order of $6 million in contracts to provide works funded by the Commonwealth government. The common theme across all three of these contracts is that they are performed by Newlands Civil Construction Pty Ltd. When you dig into the ownership of that company, of course it has the opaque, difficult-to-understand company structure that we've come to expect of Senator O'Sullivan. Newlands Civil Construction Company until June 2017 was owned 100 per cent by a company called O'Sullivan & Sons Pty Ltd. That, of course, is a company which, when you trace it all back, is part-owned by Senator O'Sullivan himself in combination with another company that is owned by his very own son. It seems that Senator O'Sullivan likes to keep it in the family—not only are he and his son both called Barry but they like to own companies which benefit from Commonwealth contracts.

Mysteriously, only a week or two ago, Senator O'Sullivan updated his pecuniary interests register. One would have to wonder why, after all of this activity being undertaken for so long, all of a sudden he decided to update his register to record company restructuring which happened back in June. So he was well beyond the 30-day requirement to update his register after a company restructure. But let's leave that aside. The most interesting thing about that is that in June 2017, on the very day the government made announcements about new NDRRA funding that it was going to be providing, he restructured his arrangements to transfer his company's interest in Newlands Civil Construction to another company. And, what do you know, that's a company that is part-owned by his son. So we're still keeping it in the family. We're still keeping it from Barry Sr to Barry Jr, and now we're passing it from Barry Sr's company through to Barry Jr's company. It doesn't really matter, as long as there's a Barry O'Sullivan who's drawing a benefit. That seems to be the guiding rule for Senator O'Sullivan's business activities.

We've asked a number of questions about this today and last week in question time. What has been very conspicuous is the lack of enthusiasm by both Senator Brandis and Senator Nash to jump to the defence of their colleague Senator O'Sullivan. The strongest we've heard from Senator Brandis is that he has no reason to believe that Senator O'Sullivan is in any trouble or that anything untoward has occurred. I would hardly call that a ringing endorsement. That's not the kind of language I'd be looking for from my Senate leader if I was in a spot of bother. The reason for that is that they know that Senator O'Sullivan is in trouble. They know that he has a problem under section 44 of the Constitution, which says that a senator is disqualified from holding office if they have a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Commonwealth.

In Senator O'Sullivan's case, there's not just one agreement with the Commonwealth; there's not just two. There are now three agreements under which Senator O'Sullivan's family companies draw a benefit via Commonwealth funding. Commonwealth funding is passed through a range of different entities and, what do you know, at the end of the day it finds itself in the pockets of Senator O'Sullivan and his son, Barry Jr. Senators Brandis and Nash should ask Senator O'Sullivan some questions, and Senator O'Sullivan should make a statement to the Senate explaining himself.