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All in the (Wilson) family: the not-so-frank inquiry

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Conflicts of Interest | Liberal Party | QED
Liberal Party

All in the (Wilson) family: the not-so-frank inquiry

November 2018 – February 2019

In the lead-up to the 2019 election, Tim Wilson chaired an inquiry into Labor’s proposed changes to franking credits. His relative Geoff Wilson, founder of Wilson Asset Management, was heard boasting about using the taxpayer-funded inquiry to maximise the chances of defeating the policy. Tim Wilson had a private website for the inquiry that was badged as official but which solicited submissions and attendees at public hearings from just one perspective.

Tim Wilson, as head of the House of Representatives economics committee, chaired an inquiry into Labor’s proposed changes to franking credits. Labor accused Wilson of using the inquiry to lead a partisan campaign against the policy.  

Wilson is also an investor and shareholder of Wilson Asset Management, founded and chaired by his relative Geoff Wilson (the MP’s great grandfather is the fund manager’s grandfather). The company has $3 billion in funds under management and was very vocal in its opposition to Labor’s policy to change franking credits. 

In an audio recording obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Geoff was heard boasting about using the taxpayer-funded inquiry to maximise the chances of defeating the policy. Geoff claims he contacted Tim to ask for the parliamentary hearings to be scheduled at the same time as one of his six-monthly investor Franking Credit Roadshows. “Then we could do a little protest, we could have our placards and we could walk down there.” One of Wilson Asset Management’s roadshows coincided with a hearing of the parliamentary inquiry in Sydney on November 20.

Tim Wilson disclosed his shareholding in the parliamentary register but did not declare it during public hearings. This is in contrast to Liberal MP David Coleman, who regularly declared his interests in a financial services firm during a recent banking inquiry.

Much of the controversy revolved around the website Stoptheretirementtax.com that Tim had authorised and promoted that initially required people who wanted to register to attend public hearings for the inquiry to agree to put their name to a petition against the policy. Wilson described this as a “mistake” that was fixed.

As Andre Oboler, a La Trobe University senior lecturer, explained, the website was registered anonymously on October 31. Tim Wilson tweeted about the website a number of times encouraging people to use the site to register for hearings. The bottom of the site has the Australian coat of arms with the words “Chair of the House Economics Committee”. Wilson’s parliamentary contact details appear alongside a statement that reads: Authorised by Tim Wilson MP, Chair of the Standing Committee on Economics.

Following a complaint by Labor, the Speaker found that no contempt of parliament had occurred but that Wilson had a private website for the inquiry that was badged as official but which solicited submissions and attendees at public hearings from just one perspective.

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

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