Queensland election: LNP partner’s firm ‘breached visas’

LNP candid­ate Pinky Singh has boasted of her ‘successful’ business partnerships with her husband, but one such venture was shut down after allegations it had breached its duties as a visa sponsor.

LNP candidate Pinky Singh. Picture: AAP

The Liberal National Party candid­ate in the inner-Brisbane seat of McConnel has boasted of her “successful” business partnerships with her husband, but one such venture was shut down after Australian Border Force ­investig­ators allege­d it had breached its duties as a visa sponsor.

Pinky Singh’s husband, Mohin­der Singh, was the director of Brisbane-based Singh Mechanical, which sponsored several Indians for 457 working visas.

The workers were supposed to be employed as mechanics but an ABF investigation in 2016 found evidence they were working as taxi drivers.

After the ABF probe, the business — which Mr Singh ran with a partner — was temporarily stripped of its sponsor status and prevented from making futur­e nominations. It was deregistered as a business in November 2018.

Ms Singh has emerged as a star candidate for the LNP in McConnel, which is held by Education Minister Grace Grace on a seemingly safe margin of 7.86 per cent, although she is facing a stern challenge from the Greens.

She was born in India and moved to Australia when she was 18 and spoke little English. She is well known in Brisbane’s multicultural community and founded the Punjabi Welfare Association of Australia.

The LNP has played up Ms Singh’s business credentials and those of her husband. “Together with her husband Ben, they have worked hard to build up successful small businesses and created jobs for locals,” her official party profile says.

In a written response to questions from The Australian on Thursday, a spokesman from Ms Singh’s campaign team said the candidate was not personally involved­ with the breaches.

“Pinky Singh was not a shareholder nor beneficiary of Singh Mechanical Pty Ltd and was not a subject of the assessment,” the statement said. “The agency concluded its assessment in early 2017. There was no action taken other than a short-term suspension of the business sponsoring visas.”

A letter dated August 15, 2016, sent by the ABF to Singh Mechanical, alleged the business had breached the Migration Act and further action was “being considered”.

The investigation into Singh Mechanical began in mid-2015 after the ABF received at least 10 tip-offs. Some of the allegations came from visa holders themselves and others were from “anonymous sources”, the show cause letter said.

It included printouts, sent by post, of timesheets showing the supposed mechanics working for a Brisbane taxi company.

“The allegations indicate the sponsor’s 457 visa holders did not work for the sponsor as mechanics but rather as taxi drivers,” the ABF letter said.

Border Force said the notifi­able action included the alleged “failure to satisfy sponsorship obligation­” and “provision of false or misleading information”.

It also found four visa holders had been paid less than the market­-rate salary of a mechanic.

The company was also unable to provide adequate payment records to investigators.

The letter warned that a delegate­ of then immigration and border protection minister Peter Dutton could revoke the business’s sponsor status, apply for a civil penalty or issue a formal warning.

Ms Singh was previously a directo­r of a business called Golden Dreamz, which was deregistered in February 2017.

She is an outside chance to win the seat of McConnel and would need a significant swing towards her to win.

The strongest challenge to Ms Grace has come from the Greens’ Kirsten Lovejoy, who garnered 27 per cent of the primary vote in 2017, compared with Labor’s 33.7 per cent and the LNP’s 36.5 per cent. After preferences were distributed, the LNP’s Jamie Forster finished second with 42.1 per cent of the vote.