Federal Parliament has rejected the recommendation of Speaker Tony Smith that there was a case for Parliament’s privileges committee to examine former Liberal frontbencher Christian Porter’s use of a blind trust to pay part of his legal bills in a defamation case against the ABC.
Last month, part of his fees had been paid out of a trust that was set up in such a way he didn't know who had contributed to it.
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke is now moving a procedural motion to refer Mr Porter’s declaration to the. He tells government MPs the vote isn’t an adjudication on the merits of what Mr Porter did,just a decision to examine it further.
“It would be the cover-up to end all cover-ups if this House prevents the privileges committee to even look at the[use of the blind trust],” he said. “If you don’t believe we should have a register[of interests],vote against this … If you don’t believe members of parliament should be held to any standards,vote against this.”
Peter Dutton,as Leader of the House,says the government will oppose the motion.
However,he says he wrote to committee chair Russell Broadbent on Monday asking it to make a broader examination of the issue of crowdfunding and similar methods of raising donations.
Mr Dutton used the example of a GoFundMe page Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young used to raise money for the defamation action she took against former senator David Leyonhjelm. He pointed out a number of donors to that gave names that appeared to be false,such as A.Non.
“I think this gives rise to a much bigger issue,a much bigger issue relating to Members of Parliament,” he said. “It’s a workplace entitlement issue and it’s a broader discussion that should be had.”
The government's numbers held and the motion failed.