Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos has justified not appearing before a Senate committee into political donations on the grounds that former Labor minister Mark Arbib refused to front a Senate inquiry into the home insulation program.
Sinodinos, who informed the committee last night that he would not appear, told ABC radio that the request for a minister to appear before an estimates committee was “unprecedented”.
He then said Arbib did not appear before an inquiry into the Rudd government’s home insulation program.
Sinodinos said the inquiry’s terms of reference on associated entities and disclosure obligations were too broad as it was a four-hour inquiry which had to report within two days.
“As a minister, I am questioned in the Senate, there is questions with notice, there is questions without notice, I turn up to estimates committees, I’ve been through two inquiries,” he said.
“I’ve answered all these questions on all of these subjects that Labor potentially want to raise. It is essentially just a political stunt. It is unprecedented to ask a minister to appear before an estimates committee.
“Mark Arbib did not do it when he was requested to do so by the environment references committee. I don’t see why I should follow a different practice to the practice of the Labor party in government.”
As revealed by Guardian Australia, Labor used the special sittings of parliament this month to set up the snap Senate committee to investigate the oversight of associated entities, such as the federal Liberal party’s Free Enterprise Foundation, which the New South Wales electoral commission says was used to “wash” property developer donations which had been outlawed in that state.
Sinodinos was the NSW party’s finance director at the time.
He told the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) that he accepted no responsibility for the events. Earlier this year Icac reportedly advised Sinodinos that no corruption findings have been made against him. Icac has yet to bring down its final report.
But Labor was also targeting the minister for his time as deputy chairman at Australian Water Holdings, which donated $74,000 to the NSW Liberal party when he was treasurer. In Icac, Sinodinos denied knowing the company donated to the party.
After refusing to appear at the Senate committee hearing set down for Thursday morning, Sinodinos appeared on a regular pre-election appearance on Radio National with Labor’s Chris Bowen.
“The situation was that Arthur was chairman of a company and treasurer of a political organisation,” said Bowen.
“The company he was chairman of was making donations to the political organisation he was treasurer of and he says ‘I know nothing’.
“He said last week in the Senate he was not given enough time to answer Labor’s questions. The Senate then resolved to give him enough time by requiring his appearance.
“If he’s got nothing to hide here it appears that Arthur – with due respect – is putting much more energy into avoiding appearing than would be required by appearing, and that means the Australian people are entitled to draw their own conclusions.”
