Crunch time for Rod Culleton’s crusade

If Senator Rod Culleton goes bankrupt, what will happen to his Constitution-brandishing, bank-attacking mission?

Senator Rod Culleton with the Constitution, his "favourite book at the moment".

It is with deep regret that the Culleton Oversight Committee reports that our work is nearing completion.

While it’s no excuse, it’s simply a fact that we’ve had to devote considerable resources to an existential threat posed by NASA, the United Nations, the mainstream media and Hillary Clinton.

As Hillary and these agencies have engaged COC in highly tactical, cross-border version of rope-a-dope, our patron and guiding light, One Nation senator and anti-bank insurgent Rod Culleton, has been under career-threatening fire.

Between us, COC is fully aware that accountability sometimes isn’t Culleton’s strong suit.

He knows we’ve always got his back, and he’s grateful for that, but it seems a little odd to us that he’s tripped up on the Australian Constitution when he can brandish a bound copy of the document at a second’s notice, as if it were Mao’s Cultural Revolution and he had to produce the Little Red Book.

Anyway, we digress.

Culleton’s constitutional problem is that he faces disqualification from the Senate if he’s declared bankrupt, and that day is fast approaching.

COC, to its horror, has discovered that the former Wesfarmers director Dick Lester has lodged a creditor’s petition in the Federal Court in Perth, seeking to recover $271,134.26 over a property deal.

The petition warns Culleton that he should attend the court for a hearing on November 21.

“If you or your legal representative do not attend the court at that time, the petition may be dealt with in your absence and a sequestration order making you bankrupt may be made,” it says.

But what about important matters of state? What if there’s a banking royal commission, or at the very least another parliamentary inquiry?

These are all valid questions, and COC finds it extraordinary that there’s no constitutional carve-out for VIPs and members of the Qantas chairman’s lounge.

Instead, all we get in the creditor’s petition is some vague allegation that Culleton failed to comply with the requirements of a bankruptcy notice, served on him on August 8, or to satisfy the court that he has some kind of counterclaim.

Well of course he has a counterclaim. He’s a senator, for goodness’ sake.

Diplomats get diplomatic immunity and they’re nothing more than bureaucrats.

We expect Culleton to reassure the court on November 21 that there’s been an egregious miscarriage of justice.

In the meantime, COC wishes to advise its patron of a disciplinary breach that’s come to our attention.

We’re aware that Culleton is under extraordinary pressure, but under the COC Constitution there is simply no excuse for vulgarities.

This journal on Tuesday quoted Culleton, in reference to Lester, saying: “COC is prepared to take Dick head on.”

Rest assured that the wrath of COC will descend on Culleton like a nuclear winter unless he observes our constitution. And we don’t mean Australia’s.

Richard Gluyas’ next Four Pillars column will appear in The Australian on Thursday.