Zali Steggall gives the nation a lesson in hypocrisy

Independent Member for Warringah Zali Steggall.

Voters in the once blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Warringah are entitled to feel appalled by revelations that climate-focused independent MP Zali Steggall accepted and concealed donations from the family trust of a multi-millionaire coal investor facing charges of tax fraud.

Given the high profile that Ms Steggall has taken lecturing the federal government on electric cars, fossil fuels and political accountability since winning the seat from former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019, the findings by the Australian Electoral Commission smack of hypocrisy.

According to reports first published by Nine media, an AEC compliance review into Warringah Independent Ltd’s 2018-19 disclosures uncovered that a $100,000 cheque from The Kinghorn Family Trust, headed by prominent businessman John Kinghorn, had not been made public even though it exceeded the disclosure threshold.

The AEC report, completed in February last year, found donations exceeding the $13,800 threshold were under-disclosed in Warringah Independent Ltd’s public returns. In the Steggall campaign accounts the full amount of the Kinghorn donation was split into eight separate donations of $12,500 from Kinghorn family members, each of them falling under the minimum amount required to be disclosed. The donation itself was made in a single cheque.

An Olympic medallist for skiing who was born in the up-market Sydney beach suburb of Manly and lived in the French Alps during her childhood, Ms Steggall has projected an image of being above the cut and thrust of politics. She is campaigning to “bring integrity and accountability back into Australian politics”.

In her maiden speech to federal parliament, Ms Steggall said trust in Australian politicians was at its lowest in a decade. Introducing a bill on political advertising, she said: “Public trust in politicians has been eroded over time, some of that erosion is due to their propensity to lie and the lack of accountability.”

Ms Steggall has been among the loudest voices in federal parliament calling for political donation reform, declaring in December that “for too long, money has been hidden from view and public scrutiny. Our democracy has been for sale”.

Announcing her candidacy in 2019, she said Australia “can’t let coal companies and lobbyists buy their way into our government”.

Ms Steggall released a statement on Monday that said: “All amounts received were in accordance with the requirements in November 2019.”

But the AEC audit said: “Notwithstanding the donation consisted of eight individual pledges, one cheque of $100,000 was given to Warringah Independent Ltd from The Kinghorn Family Trust. Under the Electoral Act, the details of individual receipts exceeding the threshold must be disclosed in the annual disclosure return.”

Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson spoke for many on Sky News on Monday when he said the donations affair raised serious issues of integrity and “absolute hypocrisy”. Mr Wilson is one of several high-profile Coalition MPs facing a challenge by climate-focused independents at the next election being bankrolled by Climate 200 Pty Ltd in a campaign led by businessman Simon Holmes a Court.

The successful Steggall campaign in Warringah is being used as a template to support independent candidates who are standing against Liberal moderates but not Labor.

Liberal MP Jason Falinski has asked the AEC to oversee an investigation into “Voices of” candidates who are in line to be part-funded by Climate 200, including independent MPs Steggall and Helen Haines.

In a letter to AEC Commissioner Tom Rogers, Mr Falinski said: “Several candidates under Climate 200 have been running ads with US and China-owned social media giants and refusing to use the transparency portals that allow all Australians to know what they are advertising and how much they are spending.”

Voters are entitled to expect that candidates who campaign strongly on issues such as taking tougher action on climate change, turning away from fossil fuels and improving parliamentary standards be held to a high standard on those issues when it comes to their own behaviour. Anything less demonstrates a double standard and disregard for the intelligence of voters.