Labor has questioned the eligibility of the energy minister, Angus Taylor, to sit in parliament, citing an apparent discrepancy in the date he sold shares in a recruitment company that did work for the federal government.
Taylor has brushed off the complaint, saying that he contracted to sell his shares in the Sydney-based recruitment company Derwent Executive in January 2016, months before the nomination date for the 2016 election.
But at a press conference on Tuesday, the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said that Taylor’s eligibility was “under a cloud” because that account was “inconsistent” with what Taylor had declared on the members’ register of interests and Derwent’s disclosure to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
In a declaration stamped 27 September 2016, Taylor stated that he and his wife owned shares in Derwent Recruitment Associates and Derwent Executive International.
According to a report in the Australian, the talent advisory firm had a $30,000 contract from March to July 2016 with the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, and had won federal government contracts worth $500,000 since late 2016.
Section 44 of the constitution prohibits MPs from having “any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the public service of the commonwealth”.
Constitutional expert Anne Twomey reportedly said if Taylor held shares on or after he nominated for the election on 7 June 2016, and the company had any agreements with the public service, “there was a reasonable likelihood that the court of disputed returns would find that he was not validly elected”.
However, it is unclear if the Acara contract could be a disqualification because Acara is an independent statutory body, albeit one that receives federal funding.
A spokesman for Taylor said: “Mr Taylor’s interest in Derwent ceased by contract with [company founder] Ben Derwent in January 2016. Mr Taylor has had no relevant interest in the company since that time.”
Derwent reportedly backed that account, telling the Australian Taylor’s interest in the company ceased in January 2016.
Despite submitting on 23 September 2016 that there were no changes to his register of interests, on 21 March 2017 Taylor updated the register, deleting his Derwent Executive shareholding, which he said had been “sold to [the] founder”.
In declarations by Derwent to Asic on 29 November 2016, the company said the Taylor family company, Gufee Pty Ltd, ceased to hold the shares on 2 July 2016, the date of the federal election.
Dreyfus told reporters in Melbourne that it “it appears [Taylor] still held the shares at the time of the last election, which would put his eligibility to sit in parliament in doubt”.
Dreyfus accused Taylor of “refusing to make clear exactly when he sold those shares”.
“Mr Taylor has not provided any proof at all he sold the shares at an earlier time.”
In 2018, Labor questioned the eligibility of Peter Dutton on the basis of his interests in childcare centres but a move to refer the home affairs minister to the high court stalled when it failed to win enough votes on the crossbench.
Legal advice from the solicitor general concluded Dutton was “not incapable” of sitting as a member of parliament but there was still “some risk” the high court might find he had a conflict of interest.
Without a referral from parliament it is unlikely Taylor’s case will ever be tested, because if he is re-elected in 2019 after disposing of his shares the earlier potential disqualification cannot be raised.
Dreyfus said the prime minister, Scott Morrison, should “step in and put this matter beyond doubt” by referring all ministers whose eligibility is in question to the high court.
