Shorten linked to Dutton feud with Quaedvlieg

One of Bill Shorten’s senior advisers had worked for the sacked Australian Border Force commissioner.

Bill Shorten adviser Paul Iozzi was Roman Quaedvlieg’s chief of staff when he headed the ABF.

Bill Shorten has been caught up in the bitter feud between Peter ­Dutton and Roman Quaedvlieg after the Home Affairs Minister ­revealed one of the Opposition Leader’s senior advisers had worked for the sacked Australian Border Force commissioner.

Paul Iozzi was Mr Quaedvlieg’s chief of staff when he headed the ABF and now works as Mr Shorten’s national security adviser. The long-time defence and political adviser also worked as Labor MP Mike Kelly’s chief of staff when he was defence materiel minister in 2013.

Mr Dutton seized on the connection yesterday after enduring weeks of attacks from Labor and the Greens over his intervention in two au pair visa cases, and ­labelled Mr Quaedvlieg as Mr Shorten’s “Godwin Grech”.

Using parliamentary privilege, Mr Dutton launched a blistering attack on Mr Quaedvlieg, a former Queensland police colleague and the man he appointed as the nation’s first ABF commissioner three years ago. “This smear is coming from the former Australian Border Force commissioner, a man who was as commissioner sacked from his position. He was a man who had groomed a girl 30 years younger than himself. He is discredited and disgraced,” Mr Dutton told parliament. “As it turns out his executive officer now is a senior adviser. Who to? The Leader of the Opposition.

“What he does is put out these fictitious bits of information and salacious detail that he can’t back up. He has been proven already to be discredited. He is someone the Labor Party should not rely on. And I think what has happened here is a lot has been promised to the Labor Party, but it is clear to me that Roman Quaedvlieg is your Godwin Grech.”

Mr Grech is a former Treasury official who was caught fabricating evidence as part of the ­“Utegate” scandal, which ensnared Malcolm Turnbull when he was opposition leader in 2009.

It was Mr Dutton’s second attack against Mr Quaedvlieg in less than a week after the former Customs chief provided two written submissions to a Labor-led Senate committee looking into ­allegations the former Liberal leadership contender misused his ministerial powers by intervening in the au pair cases.

The Senate yesterday agreed to allow the committee to extend its reporting date until next Wednesday, potentially giving it time to invite Mr Quaedvlieg to provide evidence in person.

Mr Dutton has lashed the written evidence as “entirely false and indeed fabricated” and blamed Mr Quaedvlieg’s allegations on his “bitterness” over his sacking as head of the ABF in March.

Mr Quaedvlieg was dismissed for misbehaviour in the wake of a lengthy review into his misconduct with a younger female staffer.

A Labor source confirmed Mr Iozzi was employed in Mr Shorten’s office but noted he had worked in the public service for more than 20 years and for many people, including Department of Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo. Mr Iozzi’s CV includes positions in the Defence Dep­artment from 2003 to 2012 and a stint Australian Customs and Border Protection Service director.

Mr Quaedvlieg labelled Mr Dutton’s attack against him extraordinary and said an allegation he “groomed” a girl was “disgusting and offensive”. He said he had written to the Speaker of the House complaining about Mr Dutton’s use of privilege.

“I call on him to formally withdraw that comment,” he said. “It is extraordinary behaviour from a cabinet minister to pre-emptively impugn the character and reputation of a witness ­attempting to engage properly in a parliamentary process which ost­ensibly affords the same privilege to that witness that he, Mr Dutton, comfortably shielded under today to accuse me of the criminal ­offence of sexual grooming.”

Mr Quaedvlieg denied government claims he met Mr Shorten’s staff after he lost his ABF job in March. “I have never met with anyone from Bill Shorten’s office. I don’t have any ALP connections, now or historically,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed his minister, telling ABC’s 7.30 he was disappointed Mr Qaedvlieg had “sought to sledge” Mr Dutton’s character.

“I worked with Roman when I was the immigration and border protection minister and I’m disappointed that the claims he’s making now have been so palpably demonstrated to be false, I mean they lack complete credibility,” Mr Morrison said.

My day started with a walk at Apple Tree Bay

I then read The Age & thought uh oh

I then watched QT & heard a Minister accuse me of being a sexual predator

I then heard the PM on the ABC endorsing that sledging

I’ve written to the Speaker - this is not what privilege is for.

— Roman Quaedvlieg (@quaedvliegs) September 11, 2018

Mr Dutton said there was “not one statement” he had made during the au pair saga that Labor could point to as being “factually incorrect” and rejected reports he had helped two Queensland ­policemen get jobs in the ABF. One, Matt Stock, is employed in Mr Dutton’s office as a departmental officer working in policy.