Liberal MP accuses teal Zoe Daniel of misleading the NACC

Jason Falinski claims to have evidence suggesting a consultant may have been on teal MP Zoe Daniel’s staff when he lobbied on behalf of Simon Holmes a Court.

Independent member for Goldstein Zoe Daniel. Picture: NewsWire/ Nadir Kinani

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Former Liberal MP Jason Falinski wants to reopen a corruption ­investigation into teal MP Zoe Daniel, pointing to new evidence suggesting consultant Jim Middleton may still have been on the Goldstein MP’s staff when he was advancing the interests of Simon Holmes a Court.

After the Albanese government’s National Anti-Corruption Commission cleared Ms Daniel of misusing commonwealth resources earlier this year, Mr Falinski wrote to the NACC notifying it of evidence which “contradicts Ms Daniel’s version of events”.

Mr Middleton approached the Australian Financial Review on August 12 to request that the Climate 200 founder – who funded Ms Daniel’s 2022 election campaign – be dropped from the newspaper’s 2024 Power List.

The NACC cleared Ms Daniel of wrongdoing in February, releasing a statement that said the consultant at the centre of the referral had ceased being employed as a parliamentary staff member on August 5.

At the time of the approach on behalf of Mr Holmes a Court, the NACC found the consultant was a “temporary part-time consultant to Ms Daniel” who was “remunerated by Ms Daniel’s private not-for-profit company and not by the commonwealth”.

But Mr Falinski argues this is contradicted by the publication of the diaries of Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines, who appeared at an event with Mr Middleton on August 26 last year and listed him as a “senior adviser” to Ms Daniel.

When contacted about the diary entry, Mr Middleton said he had ceased to be a member of staff on August 5.

The Australian understands Mr Carbines’s office was advised that Mr Middleton was a senior advisor to Ms Daniel, and is not suggesting the minister is linked to any wrongdoing.

Mr Falinski – who lost the seat of Mackellar to teal Sophie Scamps in 2022 – wrote to the NACC commissioner Paul Brereton and inspector Gail Furness earlier this month to request a “timely investigation into the use of public office to advance private interests”.

“It is now clear that Ms Daniel may have misled the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and if so has twice misled public institutions on the role of Mr Jim Middleton in her affairs,” Mr Falinski said in the letter. “As you are aware, under section 61 of the ­National Anti-Corruption Commission Act it is an offence to produce false or misleading information and carries a maximum prison sentence of 5 years.”

Ms Daniel told the NACC the approach was made without her “knowledge or authority”. The NACC said that “no corruption issue arises” in the case because there was no use of commonwealth resources. A spokesman for Ms Daniel referred The Australian to the commission’s finding.

“The NACC has handed down its decision on this matter,” he said.

Mr Falinski has raised concerns about the prospect of donors “funding private staff in their offices using the commonwealth seal and advocating for their private interests, so long as the parliamentarian claimed to have been ignorant”. “In response, I sought clarification about matters, including the appropriateness of externally paid staff working in a member of parliament’s office, who were taking external direction, including from donors, why this individual is not required to be registered as a lobbyist and whether such employment arrangements should be considered an in-kind donation,” he said.

The NACC has not publicly named Mr Middleton as the consultant at the centre of the saga.