Rivals vent after allegations of Gold Coast MP involved in secret LNP slush fund for council candidates
EMBATTLED Federal MP Stuart Robert “cannot be trusted” after his rich LNP branch bankrolled candidates in the Gold Coast council elections, according to his political opponents.
Gold Coast
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THE rich LNP branch of embattled Federal MP Stuart Robert is alleged to have secretly bankrolled candidates in the Gold Coast City Council elections, prompting a former councillor to claim he “cannot be trusted”.
The Fadden MP, who lost his ministry in February over a controversial Chinese business deal, is embroiled in a new political scandal and refusing to talk.
Mr Robert and his Fadden Forum fundraising arm allegedly funnelled at least $70,000 into the campaigns of three “independent” council candidates — Kristyn Boulton and Felicity Stevenson, both of whom had worked in his office, and former Scenic Rim Mayor John Brent.
When quizzed by the Gold Coast Bulletin last month on how much party resources had been given to the candidates, he replied: “Funding disclosures for all candidates are due on 26 June 2016.”
Two months earlier, in an extensive interview about the embarrassing China deal, Mr Robert was asked whether he or the party had provided financial support to Ms Boulton and Ms Stevenson in their run for council.
“Oh, they will disclose all of that,” he replied. “I can’t speak for them financially and I don’t handle it in terms of dollars and cents.
“The party handles that and the party treasurer handles that. I’m the wrong person to ask.”
After reports yesterday that the LNP’s top Queensland fundraiser had secretly bankrolled the campaigns, Mr Robert again declined to answer.
“Mr Robert doesn’t ever comment on matters concerning the party or fundraising,” a spokesman for the MP said. “All requirements for financial disclosure will be followed as per the law.”
Former long-time Gold Coast councillor Eddy Sarroff, who unsuccessfully ran against Ms Boulton in Division 4 in March, said he was furious about the role played his rival, Mr Robert and their party.
“I lost by six or seven per cent. I didn’t run against Kristyn Boulton. I ran against the Liberal Party,” Mr Sarroff said.
“There was an army of them. They tried to hide it (the donations and backing). They went to extreme lengths.
“This is absolutely disgraceful. They (Mr Robert and Ms Boulton) cannot be trusted. He’s already been disgraced.”
Mayor Tom Tate yesterday dismissed the funding connection between Mr Robert and
Cr Boulton, saying he stood by his councillor.
“That is (the party’s) choice how they want to spend their money,” he said. “What I know is that I look at the candidates that won the election and regardless of where the funds come from it is the people who decide who gets elected.
“If they decided Cr Boulton is to represent Division 4 then I look forward to working with her side-by-side to fulfil those political promises.”
The scandal comes as the Australian Federal Police continue to investigate complaints relating to Mr Robert’s trip to China in 2014.
An investigation by the Prime Minister’s Department secretary Martin Parkinson found Mr Robert had disclosed owning shares in Metallum Holdings Pty Ltd, which in turn had an interest in Nimrod Resources headed by his close personal friend Paul Marks.
Mr Robert blamed his trustee, who he declined to name, for not telling him he owned the shares — which he said were given to him without his knowledge.
He could not say whether he still owned the shares, or if the anonymous trustee held others for him without his knowledge.
Mr Robert also told the Department of Finance he would repay the public funds used to travel to North Queensland in 2013 to open a mine in which he also held shares, despite saying he was there to see former premier Campbell Newman in his capacity as shadow minister for defence material.
Three times the Gold Coast Bulletin asked LNP fundraising king Stuart Robert who he or the party bankrolled for the local elections:
FEBRUARY 16: “Oh ... the party handles that ... I’m the wrong person to ask.”
APRIL 11: “Funding disclosures for candidates are due on 26 June.”
YESTERDAY: “I don’t comment on matters concerning the party and fundraising.”
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