Fed: Electoral rorts allegations spill over to Liberals

AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2000
Fed: Electoral rorts allegations spill over to Liberals

By Karen Polglaze and Shane Wright

CANBERRA, Dec 4 AAP - The electoral rorts scandal today spilled over to the federal
Liberal Party as two government frontbenchers were accused of being involved in false
enrolments.

Environment Minister Robert Hill and Sports Minister Jackie Kelly came under fire as
Labor sought to deflect attention from its own troubles, including the allegations of
electoral rorting in Queensland.

And tonight Liberal backbencher Bruce Baird was drawn into the affair, with claims
a staffer offered to pay for the printing costs of an independent candidate in Mr Baird's
seat of Cook in return for preferences.

On The ABC's 7:30 Report, independent candidate for the seat of Cook at the 1998 election,
Darren Boehm, said a Liberal staffer agreed to pay for his $7,000 in printing costs in
return for preferences.

Mr Boehm, who won just 1.35 per cent of the vote, said the staffer knew he could not
offer the independent candidate cash in return for preferences to be directed to the Liberal
candidate, Mr Baird.

"He didn't come out and wave cash in his hand," Mr Boehm said.

"He told me he was quite prepared to do the printing, and I did see that as an offer
to purchase."

Mr Baird was still to respond to the allegations tonight.

The latest naming follows the relegation to the backbench of federal Labor frontbencher
Wayne Swan while police investigate his role in a cash-for-preferences deal in 1996.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley today called on Prime Minister John Howard to apply the
same standards to his own frontbench.

In a series of questions relating to Senator Hill, Deputy Opposition Leader Simon Crean
alleged Senator Hill's son and daughter-in-law had been enrolled at his South Australian
house while actually living in Sydney.

Senator Hill rejected the claims as a grubby personal smear, saying Mr Crean's gutter
tactics had not been taken up by Labor's Senate team where Senator Hill could have answered
them.

"My son moved to Sydney in around April of this year to pursue employment opportunities
and was joined shortly afterwards by his wife," Senator Hill said in a statement.

He said accusations they had remained enrolled in SA to help with a preselection battle
were wrong as, unlike the ALP, Liberal Party rules did not require people to be enrolled
in the same state as their branch membership.

Both had notified the Australian Electoral Commission to report they had moved, he said.

Next, Labor launched a two-pronged attack on Ms Kelly.

One involved the enrolment of a staff member at her home address in Sydney's west when
he allegedly lived elsewhere. A second related to allegedly false enrolments during the
1999 Penrith City Council election.

Ms Kelly deflected the series of questions from ALP frontbenchers, and turned the attack
on Labor.

"The heat is fairly and squarely on the Labor Party and their activities in Queensland,"

she said.

"If they have a serious allegation to make, then come outside the privilege of this
parliament and make it."

In federal parliament, Ms Kelly bore the brunt of Labor's attack during question time,
with two allegations levelled against her.

Special Minister of State Chris Ellison issued a statement saying the Australian Federal
Police had investigated allegations of breaches of the Electoral Act following the Penrith
City Council elections and had found insufficient evidence to proceed.

Mr Howard rejected Mr Beazley's suggestion that he conduct a national audit of Liberal
Party members.

"The matters which are now the subject of a great deal of coverage in the Australian
press arose from the conviction of a member of the Labor Party (Queensland convicted vote-rigger
Karen Ehrmann) for a criminal offence," Mr Howard said.

"This constant attempt being made to compare a criminal treatment of the electoral
roll with the vigorous exchanges that go on in all parties in relation to preselection
is an utterly false analogy."

AAP sw/was

KEYWORD: ELECTORAL SECOND NIGHTLEAD

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