Zoe Daniel, an independent MP who went to Canberra promising to help clean up politics, has been referred to the Federal anti-corruption commission.
Former Liberal MP and NSW party president Jason Falinski on Tuesday formally asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the inner-city Melbourne politician for lobbying on behalf of one of her financial supporters, wealthy renewables campaigner Simon Holmes à Court, to keep him out of the press.
Staff working for the Goldstein MP requested The Australian Financial Review remove Mr Holmes à Court from the “covert” section of an annual list of influential Australians, according to Mr Falinski’s letter, which was based on the newspaper’s own coverage.
“If this reporting is accurate, then there has been a misuse of taxpayer-funded resources, specifically involving Ms Daniel’s staff, who are alleged to have been engaged in lobbying efforts on behalf of her donors,” the letter to Commissioner Paul Brereton said.
The complaint illustrates how the commission can be used by politicians to attack each other — one of the main concerns raised by sceptics before it was created by the Federal Labor Government.
Ms Daniel’s spokesman said the MP hadn’t heard about the complaint and would wait for any notification from the commission or Mr Falinski before responding publicly. Liberal Tim Wilson, who she beat by 3 per cent last election, is running against her again.
Mr Falinski’s letter quoted an AFR article, which said that another independent MP, Allegra Spender, had also lobbied on behalf of Mr Holmes à Court, who established Climate 200, a fundraising company that was the driving financial force behind the election of five teal independents at the 2022 Federal poll.
“About two weeks after The Australian Financial Review Magazine’s Power list panel met to finalise the 2024 lists, teal independent Allegra Spender walked into the paper’s Canberra bureau seeking a favour,” the article said.
The Nightly
