Calls for Daniel Andrews to sack Treasurer Tim Pallas over conflict of interest allegation

The Victorian Treasurer faces calls to resign over revelations he has shares in a company that stands to make $37bn in extra tolls.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Picture: AAP

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has called for Premier Daniel Andrews to sack his Treasurer and launch an inquiry, after after The Australian revealed Tim Pallas holds shares in a transport infrastructu­re company which stands to make billions of dollars out of a deal with the state government.

Mr Pallas claimed he did not know his portfolio included shares in road toll giant Transurban until he was contacted by The Australian on Wednesday.

The Treasurer said he had been “entirely transparent” by declaring his investment in a passive ASX top 20 fund managed by Westpac on the parliamentary register of members’ interests.

Analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office earlier this week found Transurban stands to make $37.3 billion in extra tolls from motorists in exchange for investing just $4bn in Andrews government’s West Gate Tunnel.

The Australian is not suggesting Mr Pallas’ has acted inappropriately in owning the shares.

“This is conflict of interest 101,” Mr O’Brien said.

“You can’t own shares in a company while you’re doing deals with that company, but that’s exactly what Transurban Tim has done.

“The Premier must at least institute a formal, independent investigation into the Treasurer’s shareholding in Transurban.”

Mr O’Brien expressed scepticism at Mr Pallas’s claim that he was unaware that his ASX top 20 fund included Transurban shares.

“It’s literally unbelievable for Mr Pallas to claim that he had no idea Transurban’s one of the top 20 companies in Australia,” he said.

“He was sitting down at the table negotiating with them. You don’t think Treasury briefed him on Transurban?

“I’ve been Treasurer. I’ve had negotiations with Transurban. I can tell you, Treasury briefs you and they tell you everything about Transurban, including where it is on the ASX list.”

Mr O’Brien said government ministers and their staff should not have shares.

“The job of the treasurer is to put money in Victorians’ pockets, not to line their own pockets,” he said.

“Tim Pallas has made the wrong decision. He’s not fit to be Treasurer and he should be sacked.”

Greens transport spokesman Sam Hibbins backed the Coalition’s calls for an inquiry, saying Mr Pallas’s shares were “yet another one of a series of conflicts of interest” that had dogged the West Gate Tunnel project, pointing to Transurban’s donation of $28,000 to the ALP in 2016-17, and the fact that Mr Pallas’s former chief of staff Tim Salathiel is now a Transurban lobbyist.

Victoria’s Liberal leader Michael O’Brien. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr Pallas said he had complied with all transparency obligations.

“This is a passive investment fund, and what that means is of course it’s pitched at a market segment, so it’s essentially a set and forget fund,” he said.

“In 2011 when the fund was established Transurban wasn’t in that cohort of investments. I think it’s based on the top 20 ASX companies. Some time thereafter it did come in.”

Asked whether it could be argued that his government’s deal with Transurban had pushed up the value of the company’s shares, which have increased by more than 19 per cent since October, Mr Pallas said there were “swings and roundabouts” on the share market.

He said he would be keeping his passive managed fund, rejecting calls to move to a blind trust.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Mr Pallas had complied with all relevant laws and guidelines.

“And that really is the end of it,” Mr Andrews said.

Asked whether there was any risk of a public perception of corruption, Mr Andrews said: “No.”

“I don’t believe that what you’ve just put to me is something that’s in any way real,” he said.