The second barrage against his former employer came just two months after Latham wrote to Special Minister of State John Graham Hanson and Ashby of attempting to defraud the NSW One Nation’s electoral funds.
Armed with receipts in the chamber on Wednesday,Latham sought to prosecute his allegations against Ashby,detailing a catalogue of miscellaneous items purchased by One Nation’s head office in Queensland using NSW taxpayer funds – a breach of the state’s electoral laws.
Former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham has launched another attack on Pauline Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby.Wolter Peeters
This included $1400 for door hangers,$2014 for metal pens,$543 for ceramic mugs and $465 for mousepads,Latham said in NSW State parliament on Wednesday.
“None of this,of course,had anything to do with politics,let alone the administration of NSW One Nation,” Latham said in parliament.
“It was part of the Ashby cash economy:merchandise sitting in a Brisbane warehouse to be on-sold with the money laundered to Ashby and Hansen. And some of it for campaigns in other parts of the country.”
As he foreshadowed further allegations,Latham also accused NSW One Nation MP Tania Mihailuk of being aware of the impropriety since April,despite telling party members she only became aware when the allegations were aired in parliament in August.
Ashby responded to the comment by saying Latham’s “confected outrage appears to be a sign he’s desperate for media attention”.
“As I’ve stated,neither Pauline or I were involved in the NSW executive. Neither of us had any financial,or any other control over the day-to-day operations of the NSW arm of the party.
“Rod Roberts was a member of the NSW executive – why didn’t Mark Latham raise these questions with Rod at the time?” he said.
Pauline Hanson and James Ashby in the press gallery at Parliament House.AFR
Hanson declined to comment.
The allegations were aired on the same day One Nation appointed formerAustralian Survivor contestant George Mladenov to investigate allegations of financial impropriety. Latham described Mladenov as Mihailuk’s “right-hand man,personal friend and former staff”.
Mladenov had multiple stints working for Mihailuk as a staffer in her Bankstown electorate office when she was a member of the Labor Party. In parliament,Mihailuk said she trusted the judgment of her former staffer.
George Mladenov,“the cockroach of Bankstown”,kept viewers entertained in the 2021 season of Survivor Australia.Nigel Wright
“He is undertaking a review to ensure that One Nation is compliant. He’s also undertaking a review to ensure that we engage members and supporters moving forward,” she said.
Latham and his ally,Rod Roberts,made an abrupt exit from One Nation in August after the party’s national executive intervened in the state division,disbanding the NSW executive – a move Latham described as a “bizarre” takeover.
Mihailuk is now the party’s lone representative in the NSW parliament.
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