LNP candidate Jacob Heremaia grilled over his tech company
LNP candidate Jacob Heremaia has faced scrutiny over the ownership of a private tech company, Rpay, as he challenges Health Minister Shannon Fentiman for the seat of Waterford.
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An LNP candidate is under pressure to explain details of a private technology company which he owns.
Jacob Heremaia is mounting a strong challenge against Health Minister Shannon Fentiman for the southside seat of Waterford.
Cr Heremaia was questioned about his software development company Rpay, and what it does.
He said Rpay, which stands for “ReceiptPay”, had never traded.
The questions arose because Cr Heremaia’s father, Dale Heremaia, took a 10 per cent share in Rpay’s parent company Avem Technology, while he was under a 12-month ban from any business carrying on credit activity.
The ban was part of a January 2023 Federal Court ruling which ordered Dale Heremaia and his other son, Eden Capital director Benjamin Heremaia, to pay $30,000 and $20,000, respectively, for breaching the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.
Their companies, General Commercial Group and Eden Capital, were both ordered to pay $50,000 for failing to co-operate with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Cr Heremaia’s Avem Technology is registered at the same Moorooka address as his father’s Bekaja company.
“This IT start-up was established with the intent to develop software for automated receipt technology but has never traded,” Cr Heremaia said in a statement.
“Shannon Fentiman is so desperate to hold on to power in Waterford that Labor is now stooping to a shocking new low and making-up stories about her political opponent.
“Labor’s health failures and desperate smear campaigns are exactly why Waterford deserves change, this is the Health Minister that has delivered the worst ambulance ramping in the nation and the longest ever elective surgery waitlists.
“We need a fresh start.”
Cr Heremaia holds shares in several companies and private ventures, including Avem Technology Pty Ltd, where he is listed as a director and secretary.
His holdings span a diverse range of assets, from Tesla stocks to Bitcoin, alongside significant positions in various organisations such as the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Liberal National Party.
Before the election campaign started, Cr Heremaia updated his register of interest to include a loan of more than $10,000 from his father.
This week, the 24-year-old failed to receive support from Logan City Council mayor Jon Raven, a member of the ALP, and the deputy mayor Scott Bannan when his application for leave without pay was put to the council at Wednesday’s meeting.
“I believe that when you make a commitment to the people of your division, or your city, for four years, that is a promise that you have made and then to go and seek a higher office – or at least a different office – is a breach of that commitment,” Cr Raven said.
Cr Heremaia is hoping to ditch his $153,141 council seat and move into state politics, where the average salary for a backbencher is $176,000.
His plan includes toppling the Health Minister Fentiman, 40, from the seat she has safely held since 2015 and won in 2020 with a 16 per cent margin.
He will also be up against Legalise Cannabis Queensland’s Julius Taylor; the Greens Kirsty Petersen; One Nation’s Callum Whatmore and Family First’s Karen Cloherty.
If he loses his bid, he will return to his council post after the election in October.
Cr Heremaia, the state’s youngest councillor, missed last month’s Waterford election debate attended by about 100 people in Bethania, where he was expected to be asked about his company holdings.
Ms Fentiman said it was a shame that Logan residents who elected Cr Heremaia were left without council representation while he campaigned for a new job.
“How can he be trusted to represent local families who are trying to balance their household budgets, when he says he doesn’t know the details of his own business,” Ms Fentiman said.
“I was really surprised to hear Jacob recently talk negatively about the Logan Hospital, because since he’s been a councillor, he’s not raised healthcare with me once.
“Our Logan community remembers the havoc David Crisafulli and Campbell Newman caused at the Logan Hospital.
“Hundreds of nurses and other health staff lost their jobs in Logan when the LNP was last in government.”
During the election campaign this week, the state Health Department came under fire for its satellite hospitals, and ramping statistics.
Although the prospect of an easy Labor Party majority win across the state on October 26 looks tough, Ms Fentiman said she was ready for the challenge.
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