Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again addressed to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Is the minister aware of the media reports—which he referred to earlier today—that a senior official of the Australian Electoral Commission was told to ‘shut up’ about potential breaches of the law related to the use of Kirribilli House for party political purposes? Didn’t this follow the AEC official statement that ‘there could well be a disclosure issue’ about the Prime Minister’s use of Kirribilli House for party political purposes? Can the minister advise what contact there was between the Prime Minister’s office and the AEC, or the Special Minister of State’s office and the AEC, in relation to this matter? Does the minister agree that it is completely inappropriate for any member of the government to tell a senior official of an independent statutory authority to ‘shut up’ when they are simply doing their job?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think on this occasion that I would agree with Senator Wong that it would be inappropriate for anybody from the government to tell an official from the AEC to ‘shut up’. I think we can agree on that. But, as I am advised, nobody from the government told anybody in the AEC to ‘shut up’. I confirm that I am advised that there was absolutely no contact between the AEC and the Prime Minister’s office. As the Prime Minister has said in his press conference, there was contact, as there would be on a daily basis, between the Special Minister of State’s office and the AEC. Certainly, when I was Special Minister of State there was daily contact. The Special Minister of State’s office did contact the AEC with respect to the AEC’s comments on this matter. The official at the AEC told Mr Nairn’s office that what had been told to the journalist, in this case Ms Maiden, was in relation to a hypothetical question on disclosure obligations for property gifts in kind. Mr Nairn’s office advises that it was in fact the AEC commissioner, Mr Ian Campbell, who advised the AEC official in question that he should not make further comments directly to the media.

So there has been some convolution by the Australian in relation to this matter. I cast no aspersions upon Ms Maiden, who is a good reporter, but it does appear that some lines have been crossed here. As I am advised and as I understand it, Mr Bodel was asked by Ms Maiden about this. It was, as advised by Mr Nairn, a hypothetical question and was given a hypothetical answer about disclosure of property gifts in kind. Mr Campbell, the commissioner, then advised Mr Bodel not to make any further comments to the media.

I also understand from press reports today that the AEC is going to look at the question of whether any potential disclosure obligation exists in relation to the use of Kirribilli House for this function. As the Prime Minister also said in his press conference, he has received preliminary advice from the Chief General Counsel, Henry Burmester QC, to the effect that this function does not give rise to any disclosure obligation. The Prime Minister has indicated that that advice will be passed on to the AEC in relation to any inquiries it wants to make into this matter. That is where the matter stands.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise, given his answer, what the nature of the discussion was between the office of the Special Minister of State and the Australian Electoral Commission? Did the office of the Special Minister of State request or discuss with the commissioner that a discussion be had with the officer concerned? Were they aware of the discussion which was to come between the commissioner and the officer who is quoted in the press? In addition I ask the minister: when did the Prime Minister seek this advice from Mr Burmester and will that advice be made public, as the advice from Prime Minister and Cabinet ought be made public?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I understand it, the journalist spoke to the AEC official and then spoke to Mr Nairn’s office. As a result of what the journalist told Mr Nairn’s office about what the AEC was saying, Mr Nairn’s office contacted the AEC to clarify those remarks and to see if that was in fact what the AEC official had said. It was a conversation based on clarification of the comments made by the AEC official to the journalist—no more, no less than that. In relation to Mr Burmester’s advice, it will, as I said, be provided to the AEC. I am not aware that there is any intention to make that advice public.