One Nation senator Rod Culleton has accused Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff, James Ashby, of “unacceptable” behaviour for allegedly throwing his phone at Culleton’s chief of staff.
Hanson, the leader of One Nation, brushed off the incident, saying it was an “underarm throw” and the had been “blown out of proportion”.
In a wide-ranging interview with Guardian Australia, Culleton said One Nation was aware of his legal issues before he nominated for the party but criticised his party’s decision to support the government’s referral of his eligibility to the high court, saying it was made without the facts of the case.
Culleton revealed his draft terms of reference for a royal commission into banks, and plans to sue the commonwealth for a greater share of GST revenue for Western Australia.
On Monday, the Australian reported that Ashby allegedly threw his phone at Culleton’s chief of staff, Margaret Menzel, following an argument over a proposed Facebook livestream.
Culleton told Guardian Australia he had not witnessed the incident, but Menzel and two other witnesses had “all said the same thing” – that Ashby had “become very agitated” and thrown the phone after she had asked him to put a request in writing.
“You don’t come into our office and do that, it’s not acceptable. The severity of it, in every workplace, an incident has to be reported ... as I understand it an incident was reported.”
But Culleton said the incident was “the act of an individual” not the party and everything was still “business as usual” in One Nation.
Guardian Australia has contacted Ashby and Hanson for comment.
On Monday Hanson tweeted that Culleton had her “full support”, adding that what he was going through “is difficult and stressful”:
As i have stated many times, @SenatorCulleton has our full support. We know what he is going through is difficult & stressful. #auspol
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) November 14, 2016
Asked about One Nation’s decision not to pay his legal fees in a challenge against his eligibility, Culleton said he had never asked or expected it to.
“I would have thought that the party ... in a supportive way would have not agreed to refer it to the high court, because the party and the senators did not have the facts before them,” he said.
Culleton repeated his intention to represent himself, saying he did not need “some lawyer to come in and start sucking off my left tit ... because it dehydrates you”.
Culleton said he had been “totally upfront” with One Nation about his legal issues, including a conviction for larceny that forms the basis of the challenge. The conviction stood at the time of the election, but was later annulled.
When Hanson agreed to the government’s move to refer the matter to the high court, she cited a declaration from Culleton that he had been eligible to run, but said it was a matter of honesty that would have to be tested by the court.
Culleton told Guardian Australia he was “putting together an affidavit which clearly shows the party knew my true position right through, they had emails of where I was with my court matters, so the party was fully informed before I even filled out the nomination form”.
Culleton said as a One Nation senator he was not obliged to vote with his colleagues. He did not confirm his final position on the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation, but labelled the commission a “gummy shark that has no teeth ... that sucks on the teat of the government purse”. Industrial issues should instead be prosecuted in existing courts, he said.
Culleton said he had come to parliament to do three things: “Tidy up the courts, get the banking royal commission and get the GST back for Western Australia so that state can prosper.”
His draft terms of reference for a banking royal commission propose investigating consumer protection for credit contracts, revaluations of assets that put consumers in default of their loans and the adequacy of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority as regulators.
Culleton said the terms, which set an ambitious end date of 30 June and were delivered to the Labor opposition on Monday, “would only have to smile and it will draw blood on the buttocks of the banks”.
He called for an interim moratorium on all foreclosures and for Malcolm Turnbull to immediately agree to set up the commission, which the government has repeatedly refused to do in response to Labor proposals.
Culleton said Western Australia had been deprived of GST, which he described as the “proper fertiliser” the state needed for growth.
He threatened to sue the commonwealth if it did not increase WA’s GST share, saying the claim would be based on section 52(ii), a constitutional provision that says the commonwealth cannot discriminate against states with respect to taxation.
“This is probably going to save [WA premier] Colin Barnett’s bloody backside.”
Culleton promised a “constitutional correction”, claiming the high court’s rules had been “defying the parliament for a number of years”. He cited a discrepancy between the high court rules and the section of the law dealing with issue of writs, which must be in the name of the Queen.
On Thursday the attorney general, George Brandis, told the Senate the matter was a technical discrepancy between the rules and high court forms, which did not amount to a breach of the constitution.
Brandis counselled Culleton not to accuse judges of misbehaviour. Culleton’s argument that judges have not properly sworn allegiance to the Queen has been rejected by several courts as unarguable or without merit.
