Grassroots members press for LNP probe

The LNP is under pressure to order an independent investigation into a senior official organising more than $2m worth of election materials from a company with financial links to him and his mother.

LNP deputy state director Matt Chadwick. Picture: Liam Kidston

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The Liberal National Party is under pressure to order an independent investigation into a senior official organising more than $2m worth of election materials from a company with financial links to him and his mother.

Grassroots LNP members in the state branch of Greenslopes, in Brisbane, and the federal branch of Flynn, in central Queensland, voted in recent days for LNP headquarters to commission an external audit and investigation into the use of Sunshine Coast-based EPM Print Group for state and federal election campaign work.

The Australian revealed in June that LNP deputy state director Matthew Chadwick and his mother were the former owners of the printing business until they sold it to two of their employees in 2022, after providing them with a vendor financing loan.

Mr Chadwick’s mother, Wendy Chadwick, and one of their family companies receives monthly loan repayments from EPM Print Group, which did $1.299m worth of the LNP’s printing for state and council elections in 2024.

Wendy Chadwick.

It is understood the LNP ordered about $1m worth of printing from EPM for the recent federal election, but the spending has not been publicly declared.

As deputy state director and formerly logistics director, Mr Chadwick is responsible for campaign logistics, including organising the printing of how-to-vote cards, voter mail-outs, corflutes and other material.

He and the LNP have denied any wrongdoing. The LNP says there was “zero financial impact” to the Chadwick family from any decision “to award or not award work to EPM”.

LNP members in at least six state and federal seats had raised concerns about alleged unnecessary excess printing or printed mat­erials turning up late or not at all, before the original story was published. Since then, The Australian has become aware of printing concerns in another two federal seats and one state electorate, including where a rural campaign received 10,000 “sorry I missed you” LNP-branded door-knocking cards – unsolicited – despite having only a handful of local volunteers.

In all three seats, volunteers reported having to dump boot-loads of unused how-to-vote cards and other campaign materials after the elections. Last week, the LNP’s Greenslopes branch voted for a motion asking the party’s state executive to “immediately suspend all LNP printing orders to the current supplier, EPM”.

“(Also to) engage the next preferred supplier identified through the competitive procurement process or, if such a process has not been properly conducted, permit the Greenslopes SEC to engage a supplier of our own choosing without delay; and commission an independent audit and investigation by a reputable external firm, such as PwC or KPMG, with the findings to be reported to state council in August 2025.”

The LNP executive is due to meet next week, and the party will hold its state council and state convention meetings in August.

A letter circulated to Greenslopes LNP branch members after the meeting said The Australian’s reporting had raised “questions about transparency, potential conflicts of interest, governance operations and fiscal oversight”.

LNP president Lawrence Springborg and state director Ben Riley at the party’s convention in 2024. Picture: Richard Walker

On Monday night, a branch meeting in the federal electorate of Flynn passed a similar motion calling for an independent audit into LNP transactions with EPM.

Asked whether the party would order an independent investi­gation and audit, as demanded by the branches, a spokesperson said former LNP government minister Ian Walker – who was embedded in the party’s headquarters in Brisbane during the federal election – was conducting an “independent review of the federal election with full authority to make recommendations on any matter he sees fit”.

“On top of considering submissions from members, Mr Walker has always had unfettered access to all aspects of the campaign, including in the weeks leading up to election day to ensure he has the full picture,” they said.

In June, an LNP spokesman said: “Mr Chadwick’s role required him to go to tender for campaign printing and the final decision on awarding work was made by (state director Ben Riley), after considering price and capacity to deliver”.

Mr Riley offered Mr Chadwick the job at LNP headquarters in late 2022 and the pair have been close friends since being involved in university politics together.