Teal independent MP Allegra Spender fails to disclose role in seven companies

The Teal MP has blamed an ‘oversight’ for her failure to declare her role as director of seven companies almost a year after some were created.

Teal MP Allegra Spender has blamed an “oversight” for her failure to declare her role as director of seven companies almost a year after some were created.

The Climate 200-backed Wentworth MP was appointed director, along with her siblings Bianca Spender and Johan Alexander Schuman, when each of the companies were established throughout 2024, documents from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reveal.

Ms Spender on Sunday said she had submitted details of the companies, and her position in each of them, immediately after being contacted by The Daily Telegraph.

“Thanks for bringing this oversight to my attention,” she said.

“(On Sunday) I submitted all these new company details to the Parliamentary Registrar, and I expect they will be published on the Register of Members’ Interest as soon as processed.”

Ms Spender said the entities were all created following the death of her mother, fashion trailblazer Carla Zampatti, in 2021, saying they “were set up as part of the settlement of the estate of my late mother”.

Allegra Spender at the launch of her 2025 election campaign at Centennial Park. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The first batch of five business entities were created on April 4 last year, with another two formed in November.

Ms Spender, who swept into federal parliament in 2022 as part of a Teal wave pledging “integrity and transparency”, is also listed as the secretary for one of the companies, and is a direct shareholder in four, according to corporate records.

Three of the companies are structured with their shares being held by others within the batch of seven.

The documents show the companies are variously headquartered at the eastern suburb residences of Ms Spender’s family, or at offices connected to the famous fashion empire founded by the MP’s late mother.

That includes Tiago Pty Ltd, where the principal business address is listed as Ms Spender’s Darling Point property.

Oranges for Christmas Pty Ltd’s business address is listed at the Carla Zampatti Building on Sydney’s Kent Street, while Phidias Legacy Pty Ltd is listed at another Zampatti-linked office at Cope Street, Waterloo.

Ms Spender has blamed an “oversight” for her failure to declare her role as director of seven companies. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The lack of declarations by Ms Spender comes despite the MP meticulously updating her register of interests with other matters.

Her most recent alteration was lodged on March 11, when she declared her attendance at a Swans match on March 7.

Ms Spender also has declared directorships in 11 other companies.

Requirements of the House of Representatives state alterations to an MP’s register of interests should be made within 28 days of any changes.

Ms Spender holds the well-heeled eastern suburbs electorate of Wentworth by a slim 4.2 per cent margin, with Liberal candidate Ro Knox running to win back the party’s former heartland seat at the federal election later this year.

In 2022, it was revealed Ms Spender was a corporate director of a private Australian company that did not pay tax on a $280m payment it received in 2019.

A spokesman for Ms Spender said then that the $280m was a one-off dividend which had already been taxed.

In her maiden speech to parliament she called for tax reforms, stating Australia has a “tax system that holds us back”.

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