MPs take poll position after paid visit to observe Azerbaijan vote

Liberal MPs Craig Kelly and Chris Back say Australia should learn from Azerbaijan’s election processes.

Craig Kelly scrutinises votes.

Liberal MPs Craig Kelly and Chris Back say Australia should learn from Azerbaijan’s election processes.

After taking an all-expenses-paid trip to the former Soviet ­republic to observe its consti­tutional referendum — and ­despite claims of ballot stuffing and the detention of people protesting against the procedures — Senator Back and Mr Kelly praised the “safeguards” Azerbaijan had in place for its vote, which strengthened the country’s autocratic President Ilham Aliyev’s grip on power.

They cited the use of photographic ID and transparent polling boxes, letting ­people vote at just one polling booth, the lack of lobbying at polling places and ink placed on people’s thumbs to ensure they had not already voted. “If you’ve had 70 years of Soviet occupation, maybe you have a greater respect for the democratic process and making sure it’s all transparent,” Mr Kelly told The Australian.

“We’ve taken democracy for granted; have we become a bit blase? I can’t see why there’s not a requirement for people to show identification. The integrity of our voting system has to be ­absolutely top rate.”

Both MPs are considering writing submissions to the joint standing committee on electoral matters, which is conducting hearings across the country into this year’s federal election.

The latest case of shuttle dip­lomacy with Azerbaijan — a country that shared just $96 million annual two-way trade with Australia in 2014 and is deemed “not free” by Freedom House — was co-ordinated by former member for Cowan Luke Simpkins, who said he had “helped” the Azerbaijani honorary consul in Perth since losing his seat at the July election.

Mr Simpkins said he was not employed or paid by the honorary consulate, but his ongoing ­involvement with Azerbaijan has raised concern from its fierce rival Armenia after he instigated an Australia-Azerbaijan parliamentary friendship group and accompanied numerous MPs on delegations to the country.

The September trip saw a company owned by the honorary consul, Aida Rzaeva, pay for Mr Simpkins, Mr Kelly and Senator Back to visit Azerbaijan for about a week to “observe” the referendum process.

Armenian National Committee of Australia’s managing director Vache Kahramanian said the referendum had been “internationally regarded as a sham” and Azerbaijan in no way shared Australia’s democratic values.

“We’ve seen that these two members of parliament travelled to Azerbaijan and now somehow become the poster boys of democracy in what is internationally regarded as a ­dictatorship,” he said.

“To claim that referendum transparency in Azerbaijan is higher than in Australia — I’m not sure if they were monitoring or observing the same referendum that was held. Many major international news outlets covered the referendum and regarded it to be marred in controversy.

“You have now a trend that Azerbaijan is utilising its petrodollars to try and change its image in the western world … It’s worrying that Australian MPs would fall for such caviar diplomacy.”

Mr Simpkins, who had just four Azeris-born residents in his former electorate, said Azerbaijan was doing a “good job in a difficult region” and saw potential for the country to invest in Australia and particularly his home state.

The Armenian lobby also actively courts MPs.